This Cape Cod Compound is Ready to Host a Crowd
May 20, 2021
At this Osterville home, when itâs summertime, the living truly is easy.
Text by Paula M. Bodah   Photography by Trent Bell & Joseph Kellerâ   Produced by Karin Lidbeck Brent
![CI21_Catalano Osterville_Compound Landscape architect David Hawk says finding spots on the property to create special moments, like the firepit area he tucked into the sloping back lawn, made this project especially fun. Architect Thomas Catalano designed (from left to right) a guesthouse, a two-story building with a lounge on the first floor and an office above, a pool cabana, and the main house.](https://i0.wp.com/nehomemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CI21_Catalano-Osterville_Compound.jpg?w=1020&h=459&ssl=1)
![CI21_Catalano Osterville_Pool The cupola-topped pool cabana sports a full outdoor kitchen that gets as much use in the summertime as its indoor counterpart. Serious swimmers can avail themselves of the twenty-five-meter swimming lap that runs along one edge of the pool, perhaps followed by a soak in the raised spa. A border garden helps integrate the lawn and pool area.](https://i0.wp.com/nehomemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CI21_Catalano-Osterville_Pool.jpg?w=650&h=488&ssl=1)
When the design professionals who worked on this Osterville home talk about it, the word easy comes up a lot. Not that the project was simple. Architect Thomas Catalano, interior designer Manuel de Santaren, landscape architect David Hawk, and builder Kenneth Vona (who brought the whole team together) had to resolve plenty of complex issues on their way to achieving the stylish result.
But they all agree that their clients, a California couple with New England roots, wanted a home where they and their two teenage daughters could spend carefree summers.
When the couple bought the property, a not-quite-two-acre stretch on a peninsula with water on three sides, it held a Spanish colonial revival that everyone agreed should be replaced. But before Catalano could think about design, he had to make sure a new house would be around for the generations to follow. âThe site was prone to flooding,â he says. âOur client was very clear that we needed to come up with a sustainable design that would work now, and that, when he wanted to give his house to his daughters in twenty or thirty years, wouldnât be underwater.â
Once the propertyâs grade had been raised enough to account for higher sea levels and fortified on three sides with a low retaining wall, Catalano designed the structuresâmain house, guesthouse, pool cabana, and a building with an entertaining space on the first floor and an office aboveâwith longevity in mind. Lower-level utility spaces are built to tolerate flooding. âWater can flow in and out without causing damage,â
the architect says. He chose western red cedar for shingles and roofing for its ability to stand up to salty air and high winds with little maintenance.
Layered over all that practicality is the visible part of Catalanoâs magic, a playful take on the classic Cape Cod style rife with charming details inside and out. To take advantage of the peninsulaâs 200-degree water views, the main house curves gently, ushering in natural light from dawn to dusk. âThe house follows the sun,â Catalano says.
Landscape architect Hawkâs plan was all about connecting spaces. âTom artfully created a wonderful vocabulary of architecture,â he says. âItâs almost a little village that wraps around the pool.â Hawk introduced patios, decks, terraces, meandering walkways, swaths of lawn, and borders and beds of native plants and Cape Cod classics like hydrangeas and roses, unifying the property from the gracious front entry to the dock at the foot of the sloping backyard.
Inside, de Santarenâs design continues the easy, flowing ambience. âI didnât want any competition between the inside and the outdoor landscape and seascape,â he says. Every light-filled room is outfitted with furnishings chosen as much for comfort and effortless maintenance as for good looks. The handsome chairs surrounding the dining table (which extends to seat up to twenty-two for dinner) are, says Catalano, âprobably the most comfortable dining chairs Iâve ever sat in my life.â
In the same good-looking-yet-practical vein, the kitchenâs twin islands sport leathered-quartzite tops that de Santaren calls âpractically indestructible,â and the living room floor wears fade- and stain-resistant indoor/outdoor carpeting. âThere are no fragile materials in the house,â says de Santaren.
Even the main bedroom suite fuses form and function. Built-in nightstands and dressers make the bedroom as efficient as a shipâs stateroom, while the bath is an all-white spa-like oasis.
When the family opens the doors at the start of the warm season, itâs easy to imagine their fondest wish is that summer will never end.
Project Team
Architecture: Thomas P. Catalano, Catalano Architects
Interior design: Manuel de Santaren
Builder: Kenneth Vona, KVC Builders
Landscape design: David Hawk, Hawk Design
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