A Hutker Architects Designed Home in Duxbury

This Duxbury, Massachusetts, house designed by Hutker Architects balances traditional expectations and modern possibilities on a steeply sloped site. Its black-capped “Tory chimney” acknowledges local history while its cantilevered main level employs steel beams to create a sheltered pool deck on a limited footprint.

Alongside the garage, the first of three aediculae, or frames, greets visitors on a path that extends through the house to end at a window trained on a distant shore. The purpose is to emphasize each transition, says architect Thomas McNeill.

Behind the garage, a white garden blossoms between the path and linear concrete retaining walls that modulate the slope toward the pool. “The dramatic hillside setting, the woodland, and the marsh beyond all spoke to us as we designed the landscape,” says landscape architect Kris Horiuchi.

A steel cabinet above the fireplace masks the TV’s screen and finds common ground with dark accents on the reclaimed-teak coffee table, contemporary rope chairs, and petrified-wood side tables.

Copious storage in the kitchen’s island and base cabinets means less visual clutter to compete with breathtaking views. The architect’s choice of Neolith sintered stone veneer on the wall and countertops suggests a casual elegance that Stiving-Nichols embraced as a serene complement to the vivid scenery outside.

Hardware details on the trusses above cued the choice of the black Windsor chairs and dining table that share the main living space. “The details really had this incredible connection to the natural surroundings that made it easy to pull together our design concept,” says designer Liz Stiving-Nichols.

A pair of binoculars rests atop the railing on the porch, where bird-watching and napping compete with basking in the view and shoreline breezes; a bench serves as a narrow cocktail table between the comfy sofa and swivel chairs, both swathed in a linen-like outdoor fabric.

Two built-in bunks share a dreamy view in one of three bedrooms designed with the clients’ sons in mind.

They went at it with scissors.

On one side of the table was a topographic plan made of chipboard. On the other, squares of cardboard and small acrylic boxes. As they talked, they moved the boxes around, and trimmed the cardboard this way and that.

“We had zero preconceived notions of what the house was going to be,” admits architect Thomas McNeill—a scary proposition for the one paid to have ideas. But two hours later, he and his clients were looking at a tiny cardboard house. “That,” he says, “is the house that stands there today.”

Their unique approach resulted in a unique home: a split-level nestled on a deep slope, with wide windows to frame breathtaking water views and a cantilevered screened porch that hovers over a pool deck, maximizing space without breaching a conservation-restricted footprint.

McNeill’s clients weren’t seeking something unique: just an easygoing home that offered both private and shared spaces, room for entertaining, and a pool to lure three grown sons back from time to time. They had purchased the property and the older home on it some years before. When it came time to rebuild, the couple was drawn to Hutker Architects, where McNeill is a principal, for its use of natural materials and clean lines. But they also knew any house embracing those elements would stick out like a sore thumb in Duxbury, Massachusetts, a town settled by the Pilgrims in 1624 and where the house of John Alden (as in Mayflower passengers John and Priscilla Alden) still stands.

McNeill, a 2019 New England Home 5 Under 40 honoree, got in his car. “We went around town and photographed a whole bunch of historic houses—eaves, chimneys, rake boards, soffits. We wanted the house to live in a modern way but reflect the memory of these historic homes.”

It does so with puritanically simple window casings, natural cedar shingles, and gutter brackets copied from the Alden house. Its white chimneys are capped with black steel in the style of Revolutionary War-era “Tory Chimneys” that identified locals loyal to the crown. From the street it appears suitably quaint, with only the top floor visible behind its garage—an arrangement dictated by the steep slope but also classic and practical. “A Yankee approach,” McNeill calls it.

A wooden walkway leads to the front door, passing under the first of three black-steel aediculae, or frames, that usher visitors past a white garden of birch, astilbe, and ferns toward the house.“The entry landscape is all about movement,” explains landscape designer Kris Horiuchi. Inside, the house is larger than it looks. Its lofted main level includes a kitchen, dining and living area, screened porch, and steps to a primary bedroom suite with a private office. A half-flight down is a gym, family room, and three bedrooms, each with a bonus: a view, built-in bunks, or one of the home’s four interior fireplaces.

Liz Stiving-Nichols, who worked with Hutker for seven years before establishing her own firm, Martha’s Vineyard Interior Design, instinctively let the architecture take center stage by keeping furnishings quiet and natural. “We chose to include things that had character, but also simple organic textures and some scale,” she says. The black Windsor dining chairs, for example, have enough visual height to hold their own against the windows behind them, but also yield to the view.

“They really threaded the needle in blending the modern elements with the traditional elements,” says the client. Her neighbors are also pleased with the balance McNeill struck. “It evokes the memory of being rooted in the place,” the architect notes. “But then it says, ‘Look what’s possible today.’ ”

Architecture: Thomas McNeill, Hutker Architects
Interior design: Liz Stiving-Nichols, Martha’s Vineyard Interior Design
Builder: Dudley Mulrenin, Sea View Construction
Landscape design: Kris Horiuchi, Horiuchi Solien