Jeremiah Eck Designs a Contemporary House in Historic Concord

Sunlight floods the gallery-style hallway through floor-to-ceiling windows, one of many design features that give the house its modernist rhythm.

A combination of gable and flat rooflines creates a harmonious interplay between traditional and modern architectural elements.

A rounded bar-height tabletop at the end of the kitchen island “provides a place for casual seating with a view across the open living area,” says interior designer Polly Lewis.

The custom dining table from New Hampshire craftsman Tod Von Mertens is made of locally harvested maple and recycled steel.

Lewis chose one long sofa from Minotti to define the seating area around the fireplace, which is sheathed in thin sheets of porcelain. An expanse of Marvin windows affords views of the tranquil meadow beyond.

Keeping with the warmth that wood brings to the interiors, Lewis selected kitchen cabinets in a walnut finish from SieMatic. They are accented with a marble exhaust hood and backsplash, while the countertops are Neolith.

In the entry hall, the main staircase leads to an open walkway on the second floor; at ground level, windows frame a protected courtyard, where native low-bush blueberry offers summer fruit and colorful fall foliage.

A granite-and-bluestone terrace is nestled in a protected corner where the living room wing, at left, has full access via a suspended open deck that adds to the modern sensibility of the house.

As an architect, “I am an agnostic when it comes to style,” says Jeremiah Eck, founding principal of Boston’s Eck MacNeely Architects. “The argument of traditional versus modernist is silly,” he maintains. “It just gets in the way.”

A house he designed in Concord, Massachusetts, is proof that rather than competing, the styles can play in two-part harmony. It’s an approach that is reflected in Eck’s body of work honed over some forty years of practice. “It is a challenge I enjoy,” he says.

For this house, his clients, a married couple with three children, “were knowledgeable about design and the process. They were interested in pushing the envelope,” says Eck.

While the exterior is a mix of traditional references—peaked gable roofs and shed dormers—and modernist touches—walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, flat roofs, and a glassed-in gable end—inside the aesthetic is clean-lined and contemporary. Interior designer Polly Lewis of Lewis Interiors kept the furnishings sleek and simple. The site, two acres, 60 percent of which is protected wetlands, is sufficiently secluded to afford privacy despite the minimal use of window treatments, which allows natural light to flood the interior spaces.

The overall structure is 4,600 square feet laid out as three units connected by gallery-like hallways. Eck placed the living space and primary suite in the largest wing. Children’s bedrooms are in another, and a third houses the garage with a family room above.

The site itself, on one of the town’s most historic roads, was a major inspiration, and both Eck and Lewis aptly framed the tranquil views at every turn. To the east, an existing meadow was the dominant element. The landscape team from STIMSON worked to enhance and expand this resource. “We wanted to add visual interest and biodiversity by planting zones of wildflowers and native species,” says associate landscape architect Jessica Alpert. Where trees were added, they were placed to frame, not block, views.

In a sheltered corner of the house, where the main and children’s wings come together, Eck and STIMSON worked together to design a granite and bluestone terrace, a modern outdoor living room set in an ancient yet ever-evolving habitat.

Project Team
Architecture: Eck MacNeely Architects
Interior design: Lewis Interiors
Builder: BOJ Construction
Landscape design: STIMSON