Westchester County, NY

The steel and glass enclosure of this Mid-Century Modern house wraps around a comforting  interior of warm woods and colors, luxurious fixtures and indigenous art, with views out to the sedges, lotuses, Japanese Maples and plantings and cascading ponds in a revived modernist landscape.

In 1950, Frank Lloyd Wright disciple Roy Johnson planted this house on the wooded, rocky flank of a stream. His client, designer Arthur Umanoff, guided the stream’s descent through six ponds, transforming this suburban property into a modernist verdant retreat.

For the current owners, STA subtly enlarged and refurnished the house, adding a garage/studio and a tea house. The general outlines of the original ponds were deciphered from traces of railroad ties, surviving masonry weirs, impounded water and a relic bridge. The resulting landscape is a place that is both tranquil and vibrant, surrounded by ancient rock formations and native trees with the sounds of water cascading between the revived ponds.

Award:

2017 Honor Award for Recognition of Architectural Excellence
American Institute of Architects, Westchester/Hudson Valley Chapter