Annapolis-based architect Chip Bohl smiles when he remembers his first meeting with his clients at their newly purchased property on the Eastern Shore where broad, rolling lawns and open fields meet Corsica Creek. “Seeing them on the site, it was clear that they fell in love with the setting, and fell hard,” says Bohl. “They had been searching for the perfect spot for a weekend house for a long time, and this was very definitely it.”

While the setting was close to heaven on the Eastern Shore, the main structure on the property was another story. According to Bohl, it was a typical 1920s center-hall house of terra cotta block construction with a stucco exterior and a 1960s neocolonial addition. “The house was very ordinary, and it just didn’t stir any strong emotions for my clients at all, especially since it had very poor connections to the outside,” Bohl recalls.
Clear Intentions “My clients originally intended to build a new house, but as we talked it over we began to see this plain old farmhouse as an intriguing blank slate,” Bohl continues. They decided they could preserve the spirit of a classic Eastern Shore farmhouse without having to be overly respectful of the original building. “We felt we could work with the existing footprint rather than add to the structure, while still being able to reorganize and reorient the house to take full advantage of the water views to the north and the fields on the south side,” Bohl says. “We realized that we had all of the elements at hand to create a true art house, so we decided to go for it.”

Spend a little time with Bohl and you’ll often hear the term “art house.” He classifies houses into three categories: ordinary, custom, and art. “An art house speaks to much more powerful issues of the landscape and its own sense of place than other houses do,” he explains. “It captures the setting’s idiosyncrasies and transforms them into something wonderful. As any work of art does, an art house creates an extra level of meaning.”

Rooms for Design

The first order of business was to dramatically enlarge the window and door openings so to marry the house to the landscape. Today, when you step through the side door and into the kitchen, you can see how the once dark, choppy interior spaces have been opened up. One of the most intriguing new openings is the tall kitchen bay window which appears to be bisected by a 30- by 60-inch American slate tabletop-the same slate found in a million classroom blackboards around the country. The slate tabletop is cantilevered off the kitchen wall by a steel bracket designed by Bohl. Outside this window, a piece of slate of the identical length and height extends as a patio table.

The kitchen’s painted wood cabinets are alsoBohl’s design. They offer a softer, more rustic contrast to the modern stainless steel- and slate-covered countertops. “Stainless steel can be cold and commercial looking, but by using it along with informal materials such as the cork floors, painted cabinets, and mahogany beadboard walls and ceiling, then it gets to be very rich,” he explains.

The centerpiece of the kitchen’s design hangs over the stove and is what Bohl calls the “large biomorphic plaster hood.” To get this lip-shaped hood just right, he spent long hours working directly with the builders until the plaster had the perfectly flowing, organic curves that he was after.

In the dining room the new hearth and mantle are also made of honed slate. New floor-to-ceiling glass doors were included here, as well as in the adjacent library, and look out through the screened porch to the water beyond. In the library, sustainable-growth mahogany is used for the new mantle around the existing fireplace, as well as for the bookcases and ceiling trim. Here, and throughout the house, the overall look is sleek, spare, and yet cozy at the same time. “My clients have a great sense of design,” Bohl says. “Everything here is very clean and direct and works perfectly with their marvelous collection of Arts and Crafts furniture.”

The color palette throughout the house is a soothing mix of creams and light sage green. While the colors are pale, they do manage to have considerable intensity. “I thought about farm implements that are initially painted with really strong colors that gradually fade in the sun, and that’s what I was going for here,” comments Bohl.

Light Matters

Thanks to Bohl’s dedication to continue the addition of windows in the upper portion of the house, natural light now floods the second floor though the tall windows flanking the doorway to the roof deck at the top of the stairs. Originally, there was just a small French door in this spot. “We cut back the wall and added the windows to align with the interior of the second floor hallway,” Bohl explains. “Now, the door seems to float in that space, introducing a great deal of light.”

The master bedroom now has dramatic water views through the oversized windows. And in the master bath, Bohl had the narrow dormers removed and replaced with a single large window. The clients’ young son also has a superb water view from his upstairs bedroom. For this room, Bohl designed a high wardrobe evoking the feeling of a magical flying machine. He’s currently designing a matching headboard.

The second floor guest room originally had a bathroom in the corner, but Bohl had that removed so the ceiling could be raised to accommodate oversized, fixed glass, double-hung windows. From the outside, an astute eye will notice that these are the same type of double-hung windows in the kitchen directly below, yet the pattern is reversed.

Clean Living

The clients entertain often and the house is an ideal location for their Washington friends and Philadelphia family to reach easily. One of the predictable pleasures awaiting those fortunate visitors is watching sunsets from the long, screened porch facing the water.

“This is a great sunset house,” says Bohl. The Doric columns on the porch are detailed so that the screens go right into them rather than having separate frames. “I wanted to keep the feeling of the Greek Revival style common to these Eastern Shore farmhouses, yet I also wanted to have this great sense of transparency so the view to the water is as clean as possible.”

The same sophisticated sensibility is being used in the landscaping as well. Noted landscape architect John Gutting is reworking the approach and the fields surrounding the house. Gutting explains that when finished, the approach would follow the natural contours of the meadow, and move through new-forested areas with wildflowers in season.

“We want to make things more natural and also create a bit of mystery,” says Bohl. “In the future, when people approach the house, they won’t initially get the full impact of the water; instead the setting will reveal itself slowly to them,” he adds. “Of course, when we’re through, the landscaping will also be more environmentally harmonious and friendly to wildlife, too.”

Standing outside on the dock looking back at the house, Bohl reflects on the design and construction process, making it all sound deceptively simple. “We just tore out some walls, put in some new walls, added new mechanicals, new oversized windows, and new flooring,” Bohl says. “In the end, we kept the farmhouse profile, yet the execution is anything but farmhouse.

“The nicest thing happened when we were done,” Bohl recalls. “My client told me that even though I didn’t know anything about her or her family when we began, by the time the project was finished I’d helped create a house that’s actually an evocation of places she’d loved all of her life. I really can’t imagine a better description of what an art house is supposed to do.”

Roger Friskey is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.