With many culminating accomplishments to celebrate as we inch, leapfrog, creep, hurtle,… toward the icehouse rehab finish line, I’ve inevitably overlooked a couple. Maybe a few. One of those notable achievements is completion of framing and decking the icehouse east deck.
Icehouse East Deck (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
Although we still need to finish installing plugs and oil sealing the garapa deck, framing and decking the east deck is finito. And it looks superb!
In the photograph above (and the next to below), the framing is complete, and most of the garapa has been installed. Only the risers and skirting are missing.
Icehouse East Deck (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
Even incomplete, the handsome honey hues and minimalist design are eye catching. Such warm coloration and intriguing grain!
Icehouse East Deck (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
And then the risers and skirting were installed and everything came together into a seamless whole. Cohesive, integrated design resolves subtly, allowing the elegant historic building to preside over an environment as welcoming and user friendly as it is timeless.
Icehouse East Deck (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
Note that Brandon has roughed in the lighting which will make for safe after-dark navigation, unifying this nighttime lighting with the house and waterfront.
Icehouse East Deck (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
Imagine, if you can, this wood accentuated by this same afternoon light a couple of weeks from now once oiled and gentled into the landscape with soon-to-be planted beds on the south, east, and north sides. I’m looking forward to it!
In some respects, the most significant icehouse rehab alteration, at least to the exterior and surroundings, is the grade change north and west of the existing building and the new hardscape that will integrate this area with the rest of Rosslyn’s lawns and gardens.
Icehouse Hardscape Collage (Credit: Geo Davis)
In the collage above, an interesting perspective captured with a drone (a view unlikely to ever be witnessed in typical, non-drone circumstances) portrays the icehouse from the northeast some thirty feet or so up in the air. Perhaps a bird’s-eye view or a squirrel’s-eye view.
Overlaid across the photograph (with no implied correlation between the location of the drawing and the photo it marks up), the simple line drawing offers some rudimentary plans and relationships for further site work, finalizing slopes and grade changes. In addition it generally maps out the locations of stone edging/walls and stone steps that will be constructed out of locally quarried limestone that was salvaged from existing deconstructed foundations and cisterns during our 2006-8 home renovations as well as a more recent discovery of an old stone cistern while replanting the evergreen hedge along the northern perimeter of Rosslyn’s front lawn. In other words, these new hardscape features will be reimagined out of repurposed materials likely dating to the 1800s when the original homestead was constructed. New hardscape with an old history.
It’s been a good week, and it’s not even over yet. Much gratitude is due the entire team as we move into a Friday with many moving parts and a growing balance sheet of synchronous progress in the icehouse, outside the icehouse, and throughout Rosslyn’s still muddy but increasingly springlike grounds.
A photo essay (think more photos, less essay) will offer the best glimpse into the latest round of accomplishments. And behind all of these photos — if not literally behind the camera, in all cases behind the wrangling and tasking and managing and juggling and multitasking and quality control — is Pam Murphy. Our gratitude to everyone behind this week of synchronous progress, especially the woman who keeps it all together!
Finishing Up Icehouse Ceiling (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
In the photo above installation of the T&G nickel gap on Rosslyn’s icehouse ceiling is. Almost. Done. Rumor has it that tomorrow the ceiling will be finished. Fingers crossed!
March has marked plenty of plumbing progress in the icehouse rehab, most recently installation of the admittedly unattractive but practical mini split that will keep this oasis cool in the steaming days of summer.
East Icehouse Lamp Reinstalled (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
Electrical headway includes reinstallation of the lamp next to the entrance door. Removed during installation of the insulated panels and clapboard siding, the patinated exterior sconce is now back in place.
New Marvin Doors and Architectural Salvaged Door in Temporary “Paint Shop” (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
The first of the Marvin Doors have been received from Windows & Doors by Brownell. We started the process back in August, and the still have a little over a month to wait for all of the windows. So for now we’ll get to work painting the doors and installing them. On the right of the photo is an old door that Peter has rebuilt and that is now repainted in satin White Dove by Benjamin Moore to match the rest of the icehouse interior trim.
High Tunnel Almost Ready for Planting (Photo: Tony Foster)
In other exciting spring news, Tony has done a remarkable job of preparing the high tunnel for early season planting. And check out that solar gain on a freezing day!
In addition to carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and gardening headway, some landscaping progress is also worth noting. In the photo above the lawn adjacent to the icehouse deck and terrace, has been crisply edged so that Bob Kaleita can fine-tune the site work and stone wall construction can begin.
A hat tip to our Amish neighbors who’ve accelerated the landscaping grounds work AND split up the massive ash tree that fell a couple of weeks ago. Plenty of firewood now curing, a geometrically impeccable extension to the daylily bed, and plenty of edging including the new hemlock hedge planted last summer by Patrick McAuliff.
Edging New Hemlock Hedge (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
Crisp edging ready for mulch along the hemlocks. In the photo above the perspective is looking east toward Lake Champlain, and in the photo below looking west toward the Adirondacks.
Edging New Hemlock Hedge (Photo: R.P. Murphy)
And that’s just *part* of a busy week. Thank you, team!
If you’ve been following along over the last couple of months, observing from afar as we rehabilitate and repurpose Rosslyn’s icehouse, then perhaps a vision is beginning to take shape in your imagination? Or maybe you’re struggling to envision the future of this handsome but understated utility building? I’ll be sharing design and structural plans piecemeal in the months ahead, but today I’d like to show you a couple of slightly whimsical renderings of the icehouse as it *might* (see note below) appear when rehabilitation is complete. The work of friend and frequent architectural design collaborator, Tiho Dimitrov, these illustrative previews are an enjoyable way to fertilize the team’s imagination as they progress.
Rendering for Icehouse Rehabilitation, East Elevation (Source: Tiho Dimitrov)
The image above depicts the east elevation, the most visible to passersby who happen to glance west, beyond the house, past the stone wall and the linden tree, to where a pair of “barns” —actually a carriage barn and an icehouse — are backlit by the setting sun. This east-facing icehouse façade was the primary focus in our meetings with the Town of Essex Planning Board. Because of the impact it has on the historic viewshed, we have endeavored to minimize changes, even repurposing/recreating the former icehouse door as a storm door per the encouragement of several board members.
Rendering for Icehouse Rehabilitation, North Elevation (Source: Tiho Dimitrov)
The second rendering of the icehouse as viewed from the north is notably absent the carriage barn (located directly south of the icehouse.) Although this might initially seem misleading, there’s potentially an intentional and beneficial consideration as explained below. Of note in this view (not visible from the public viewshed) is a change to the original fenestration. Only a single window, the one furthest to the left, likely dates to the building’s construction in the late 19th century. This 3-lite window, along with an identical window south side, have served as the template for three windows in the rehabilitation plan. When we purchased the property a massive window had been cut into this wall, but we removed it during the initial phase of structural rehabilitation in 2006-7. It is visible in the photo below, taken by the previous owners’ son, Jason McNulty.
Icehouse, North Side (Source: Jason McNulty)
It’s also evident in the following photo taken by Jason McNulty. Both photographs were recorded on November 8, 2004.
Icehouse, North Side (Source: Jason McNulty)
The three six-over-six double hung windows in Tiho’s rendering have been templated from the carriage barn, and the three small windows above are templated from similar windows in the carriage barn that were originally installed in rack of the horse stalls. They are visible in one of the photos I shared recently in the post, “Local Lumber& Fall Foliage”.
As It Might Appear?
I qualified my statement above about these renderings illustrating how Rosslyn’s icehouse will/might appear after rehabilitation is complete. Why, you ask? Architectural renderings are a powerful tool for visualizing designs and structural plans, but they are subjective. For example, in the renderings above, attention is focused on the icehouse to the exclusion of other conditions (ie. the carriage barn located mere feet to the south of the icehouse). There’s something romantic, even misleading when we isolate a specific subject from its broader context, and that is certainly the case with these delightful renderings. Colorful and capricious, they are extremely effective tools for catalyzing imagination for the future of this rehabilitation project. But there’s much more at stake as we adapt the northwest quadrant of Rosslyn’s public property (as opposed to the meadows and fields to the west of the gardens and orchard). I’ve chronicled in other recent posts concurrent site work to the north and west of the icehouse, removing some of the topographical changes introduced early in the 20th century when a clay tennis court was installed. We will be reintegrating the landscaping in the immediate vicinity of the icehouse with elements already present on the property in order to restore greater cohesion and balance to the landscape design.
