Chimney Hill Residence in West Chester
Inspired by Colonial Williamsburg, the Chimney Hill Residence rests upon a one-and-a-half-acre hillside property along a well-traveled thoroughfare leading into the historic borough of West Chester, Pennsylvania. A unique and welcoming challenge to the design of this Dutch-Colonial Revival home was creating two distinct frontages: the Hillside Façade, which anchors the house to the landscape and is most visible to those passing by its prominent location, and the Courtyard Entrance, which creates a welcoming family and guest entry that provides privacy against neighboring homes and access to the adjacent party barn.
Within the Hillside Façade, the classically detailed front porch sits proudly atop a steep hill overlooking a nearby golf and country club. Assimilating to many homes in the region, the home’s design appears to have been added onto over the years, growing over time with the appeal and detail of an early American home. Predominance and order were given to this formal, traditional frontage with an “original”, center hall, five-bay mass.
The home’s exterior features many Dutch Colonial elements and materials, including a cedar gambrel roof, brick foundation, painted clapboard siding, profiled barge boards, and dentil cornice molding. The architectural detailing is reminiscent of the Colonial Williamsburg style and continues throughout the interior.
Inside the home, handcrafted balusters, handrails, and wainscots create a welcoming stair hall exemplifying early American details. The home’s interior is adorned with custom fireplace mantels, hand molded bricks, reclaimed exposed timber beams, random width reclaimed hardwood flooring, and sawtooth adjustable shelving braces located within the gallery library.
On the opposite side of the residence, the Courtyard Entrance creates privacy and ease of entry for family and guests. Given everyday passage into the home, sheltering roof lines, breezeway, brackets, and landscaping reduce the scale of this more informal frontage for an inviting approach to the home. The design and orientation of “additions” further assists in sheltering the main building mass from shared property lines while simultaneously creating a private courtyard for the family to enjoy. The raised garden courtyard with surrounding white picket fence captures the intention of a casual entrance to the home while the flanking orientation of an entertainment barn allows for added privacy from adjacent neighbors.
Replacing the need for a traditional family room, the party barn contributes to successfully maintaining the ratio of the home to the land size. At sunset, the oversized barn doors slide open to create a spacious entertainment area that blurs the line between indoor and outdoor entertainment.
This new home’s design exemplifies the traditional architectural hierarchy by varying scale, order, and rhythm of the materials with particular attention paid to orientation, views, and transitional connectivity of indoor and outdoor spaces. The home’s Hillside Façade and Courtyard Entrance combine the aesthetic appeal of classical architectural elements, anchored landscaping, and natural material palette. The Dutch Colonial details throughout the home suit the built vocabulary of this revolutionary region and provide the home a sense of history and place.
The Chimney Hill Residence was awarded for best new residence by the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art (ICAA). The Philadelphia Chapter celebrated the Trumbauer award-winner for its exemplary work in preserving and advancing classical architecture.
