Historic Character and Ocean Views Define This Cohasset Home

The 1880s Victorian with its grand facade sits on the rugged Cohasset coast with expansive views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Gerald Pomeroy Interiors designed the fireplace surround in the drawing room. The stone and fabrication are by ItalMarble. The antique English Regency convex mirror is from David Neligan Antiques.

“The entrance is decidedly elegant but low key at the same time, referencing the architecture of the house,” says interior designer Gerald Pomeroy.

The renovated hallway uses the ocean as a focal point. A Vaughan Zurich Lantern hovers above a circa-1830 German Biedermeier table sourced through Chairish.

Siegel Structural Engineers reconfigured the structural framing of the family room to allow for an ocean-facing facade of floor-to-ceiling doors and windows. Hwang Bishop Barnacle table lamps add a sculptural element.

Harrington counter stools from Arteriors rest beneath Urban Electric Co. Chelsea lanterns in a kitchen with “an intriguing combination of classic and modern elements,” says Pomeroy.

Full-height windows overlooking the ocean were added to a breakfast room with an Iatesta Studio garden table, Vaughan Montferrat Leaf Chandelier, and Stark rug.

“The primary bedroom had to, at the end of the day, become an oasis or retreat for my clients,” says Pomeroy.

Gerald Pomeroy Interiors custom designed the vanity in the primary bath.

Alfie, the homeowners’ dog, relaxes on a porch with Walters wicker furniture. “Gerald came up with creative ways to make the home beautiful and family-friendly,” the client says.

Rethinking a Historic Victorian Home in Cohasset

When the owners of a Victorian estate just south of Boston commissioned interior designer Gerald Pomeroy to navigate a kitchen renovation, the veteran spatial planner leaned into the property’s architectural integrity to devise a plan that would accentuate how the clients wanted to live and function in their surroundings.

Perched along the winding, rocky coastline of Cohasset, Massachusetts, the 1880s residence stretched just under 6,000 square feet with sweeping ocean views and a grand exterior. Yet when Pomeroy examined the home’s interiors more closely, he recognized that the property required a far more radical intervention.

“We initially focused on a kitchen that didn’t work,” recalls Pomeroy, a self-described classicist noted for balancing modern and traditional elements. “But the more I chatted with the clients and looked around, I suspected that the problem was larger than just the kitchen, and that started our journey.”

Opening a Victorian Home to the Ocean Views

That journey evolved into a three-year, top-to-bottom reimagining of the historic residence.

Working in phases, Pomeroy enlisted RBA Architecture and Lemanski Construction to overhaul a late-nineteenth-century summer retreat that absorbed a series of well-intentioned but disjointed additions over the years that left its layout feeling fragmented. The ambitious transformation revealed the property’s underlying grandeur while also exposing its intricate, layered history, says architect Ruth Bennett, founder of RBA Architecture.

“The original house was a typical 1880s Victorian cottage, but it didn’t embrace its coastal location, so we opened up the back of the house and made a lot of structural changes to embrace the site,” explains Bennett. “It was a real transformation, that’s for sure.”

The design team’s most profound intervention was reconfiguring the first floor to create an elegant enfilade of rooms overlooking the ocean. Full-height windows and doors were added to the breakfast, family, and dining rooms to foster a better connection to the outdoors while flooding the interiors with radiant coastal light. The kitchen—the centerpiece of the renovation—was reorganized to enhance the flow of a space that now includes floor-to-ceiling doors and windows with ocean views.

Interiors That Honor the Home’s Original Character

“Honoring the property’s history was paramount,” says builder Preston Lemanski. “The renovation stays true to the home’s original detailing but also adapts to modern living.”

The interior design revives the home’s Victorian pedigree while injecting a sophisticated vocabulary of tailored textiles, custom millwork, and a rich, grounded palette, explains Pomeroy.

Hand-blown glass lanterns and porch lights in the entrance reference the architecture of the house while adding a decidedly elegant feel. A garden table surrounded with sculptural piano side chairs injects tactile warmth against the backdrop of the Atlantic in the breakfast room. An inherited antique four-poster bed, bureau, and desk give the homeowners the feeling of a retreat in the primary bedroom.

“We wanted to respect the architecture and bring back what was appropriate for the age of the house,” Pomeroy says. “But also create a flow throughout the home that was better for the family and the functionality of the home.”

Project Team
Architecture: RBA Architecture
Interior design: Gerald Pomeroy Interiors
Builder: Lemanski Construction
Landscape design: LeBlanc Jones Landscape Architects