Brooklyn architect lists her modern Connecticut retreat for $650K

Lynn Gaffney, a LEED accredited and certified Passive House designer based in Brooklyn, is selling her 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom Sharon, Connecticut weekend retreat named “The Bog” for $650,000. Gaffney has a lot of emotion attached to her home. “It’s very personally designed. My husband was my client and my friend built this house.” She particularly loves the space between the garage and the house, “There’s a gateway where the two buildings almost touch and it creates the most wonderful courtyard. Conceptually, the idea was to build a metal shell toward the road and create an envelope for a private warm house based on the garden.” She describes the metal shell as a modern “interpretation of an agrarian shed.”

Gaffney’s eight-acre plot sits between a charming country road and protected wetlands. “The goal was a small(ish) house that offered a getaway and a place to entertain,” she says.

William Pitt Sotheby’s agent Steve Pener and partner of the listing Goldspiel Group says the house unfolds beautifully. “It really grows on you. The design is modern but it’s got a smart layout and its really well thought out.”

The layout, finishes, and systems show Gaffney’s commitment to sustainable design with structural insulated panels, radiant heating, abundant natural light, polished concrete floors, bamboo floors, non-painted plaster walls, standing seam metal panels.

The architect admits the gorgeous custom stairs were a challenge. The open-riser and cantilevered stairs, “led us to expose and celebrate the steel structure. The stairs were tucked into a tight space along the hall and the path required two quarter turns which raised concern with the local building inspector.”

The guest apartment

“Set amongst one of the most historic areas of Sharon, in the Ellsworth section, it is a super beautiful area with farmland and historic homes,” says Pener. He adds that Gaffney most recently finished off the guest apartment in the accessory building over the garage, “which makes it an idyllic place to entertain and have guests.”  Gaffney adds, “The small little apartment over the garage adds this wonderful perch to look out over the trees.”

Gaffney is very attached to the town of Sharon and, in fact, is pitching the idea of co-housing to the residents (think more traditionally designed condominium homes with a communal community house and a conscience). She will be giving a talk on the subject, this Sunday, March 25th at 4pm at the Scoville Library in nearby Salisbury.

[Listing: 5 South Ellsworth Road by Ira Goldspiel and Howard Schissler of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty]

[Via Curbed]

RELATED:

• $4.35M Connecticut home Marcel Breuer designed for himself got a glass and steel addition
• Asking $325/night, this secluded Catskills treehouse may be one of the coolest vacation escapes ever
• Mod Connecticut home built for an original ‘Mad Men’ exec asks under $1M

All images courtesy of William Pitt Sotheby’s