Modern Farmhouse Combines Bauhaus Style with Nature-Inspired Design

The front entry hall is dominated by a dramatic glass stair tower featuring floating oak steps illuminated by a quartet of Kelly Wearstler pendants. “It’s nice to have that statement of arrival,” observes architect Stuart Disston.

The front facade offers a modern take on classic New England architecture. Even the garage (at rear) looks inviting and features an office and art studio on the second floor.

The living room fireplace was centered on the wall but framed with asymmetrical surrounds of quartzite and oak to give it a more modern look; the furnishings are from Minotti.

Oversized wall dormers illuminate a couple of second-floor bedrooms and contribute to the home’s contemporary character.

An image by Belgian photographer Eric Ceccarini greets guests in the entry hall.

Scenery surrounds the breakfast area and family room, which culminates in a marble-framed gas fireplace shared with the terrace beyond.

Cantoni bar stools sidle up to an island covered in Thunder Bay quartzite; a butler’s pantry behind the range provides additional storage and workspace.

Powder rooms are a great place to make a statement, and this Silver Snake Brazilian granite doesn’t disappoint.

An Andrea Bonfils painting echoes the color of the leather on a B&B Italia daybed in the front study; the white chairs are from Minotti, the light fixture is from 1stDibs.

The first-floor guest room is the next best thing to sleeping outdoors, with walls of glass wrapping the bed on three sides. The space is so tranquil, visitors claim they’ve never slept better.

The rear of the house reveals the expansive walk-out basement, as well as the pool, which is framed in grass rather than hardscape to be cooler underfoot and blend in better with the country setting.

The U-shaped house surrounds a terrace planted with boxwoods for year-round greenery.

The wife turned an equipment shed into a plein air ceramics studio where she could work while admiring the landscape.

Finding a Modern Farmhouse in Greenwich

After several years of looking, a Greenwich couple finally found the perfect home.And it’s all thanks to a flat tire.

The pair was captivated by some renderings they found online for a planned housing development in town. “It was Covid, we were stuck at home, so we decided to take a drive and look at it,” says the wife, an artist with two grown daughters. When they arrived, they found developer Doron Sabag of SBP Homes waiting for a couple of potential buyers from New York. Unaware that the buyers had been waylaid by a flat tire, and initially mistaking the Greenwich pair for them, Sabag showed the couple the property and plans. They were so enthusiastic, they agreed to purchase it on the spot.

Each of the six houses in the twenty-four-acre development was designed by a different firm to reflect the diversity of Greenwich’s architecture. “I didn’t want one architect to design all six houses because, at the end of the day, they would end up looking the same,” Sabag says.

Blending Contemporary Architecture with Classic New England Style

The house the couple chose was designed by Austin Patterson Disston Architecture & Design. Wrapped in creamy white shingles, with pitched roofs that alternate with expansive grids of glass, it is a sublime distillation of farmhouse and Bauhaus—at once both familiar and fresh. “Our firm calls it ‘modern agrarian,’ ” says architect Stuart Disston. “It’s a modern house, but it has traditional gables, so it fits in with the New England setting.”

Each wing of the U-shaped house is one-room deep, allowing sunlight and views to penetrate from several directions. “When I was indoors, I really wanted to feel the outdoors,” says the wife. Charcoal-colored aluminum-framed doors and windows stretch from floor to ceiling, maximizing views of the landscaped central patio and of the bucolic grounds mostly designed by Sabag. “Sometimes people think I build houses just so I can plant them,” he concedes with a laugh.

Despite its six bedrooms and eight baths, the house appears relatively understated at first approach, only revealing its expanse as you venture inside. A central hallway bisects the structure, permitting unobstructed views from front to back. (Sabag selected the interior finishes with Maripi Aspillaga of Nima Design.) A crystalline tower flanking the foyer encloses a floating oak staircase built by Cesar’s Stairs & Rails and illuminated by a cluster of faceted pendant lights.

As with all the homes in the development, the kitchen features an airy prep area in front and a well-equipped butler’s pantry in the rear. “You can put all the mess behind, and the kitchen always looks clean,” says Sabag, who outfitted the room with driftwood-colored cabinets crafted from plain-sawn white oak. Dramatic Thunder Bay quartzite cascades over the sides of the island, while nano-glass slabs mimicking Calacatta marble stretch from the countertops to the ceiling.

Working with Dallas interior designer Rebecca Merrill, the wife and her entrepreneur husband leaned into contemporary furnishings from Italy, maintaining a mostly neutral palette save for the occasional shots of color from contemporary works of art. But even those take a back seat to the panorama outside the windows. “Nature,” the wife rhapsodizes, “is the most beautiful artwork you can get.”

Project Team
Architecture: Austin Patterson Disston Architecture & Design
Interior design: SBP Homes, Nima Design, RM Studio
Builder: SBP Homes
Landscape design: SBP Homes, William Kenny Associates