1. MONOCHROME EASE

This house was built ca. 1800, perhaps as a tavern, in the fishing village that was old Newburyport, Massachusetts. With only two bedrooms, the house was small for a family of four. It sits close to the water, and Conservation Commission restrictions prohibited expanding the footprint. The only way to add on was to go up.

To meet the clients’ needs, Frank Shirley Architects (frankshirleyarchitects.com) replaced the gable roof with a doublepitch gambrel to create a third floor. The modified roofline respects the period vocabulary. Although gambrels are not prevalent here, they are a roof form that was used in New England during the Georgian and Federal periods, and again in the area’s Shingle Style houses.

The design dramatically increased attic headroom, allowing space for a master bedroom, sitting area, full bath, walk-in closet, and laundry. A private viewing deck off the sitting area overlooks the mouth of the Merrimack River.

The serene bathroom features marble, a classic material that has accompanied fine cabinetwork for centuries. The owners selected the slab at the stone yard, and also chose the misty, blue-grey wall color. The window seat is within one of the new dormers on the building’s façade. Wainscoting on the perimeter is wide beaded boards. The bathtub sits at an angle to offer some privacy from the large frontelevation window. Lighting is invisibly recessed in the ceiling.

The ethereal bath echoes the sea beyond the warm, wood-lined bedroom, where the gambrel roof is open to rafters and collar ties. White is both soothing and sanitary, a natural choice for bathrooms since the turn of the 20th century. The soft greys of natural marble and a light pastel wash on walls avoid sterile harshness. The palette seems to echo the oceanfront view outside.