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click photos for larger imagePhotographed by Erik Kvalsvik
If you were to stand in the cozy farmhouse on this 85-acre farm in northern Baltimore County and look out across the grounds, you’d see the timber bank barn, circa 1870, that once offered storage for hay and kennel for some 100 champion hounds. The owners of the farm, a retired Baltimore labor lawyer and a venture capitalist, love that view.
So when they contacted architect Barbara Wilks to discuss renovating the barn into a gallery space for their world-class art collection, as well as extra entertaining space beyond the farmhouse, which is their weekend home, they were explicit from the start. They wanted modern amenities, but “they wanted the barn to still look historic from the house. “They did not want their view of the barn to change,” says Wilks. Formerly a partner at Baltimore’s Cho Wilks Benn, Wilks designed the much-hailed glass atrium for the campus of Bryn Mawr School.
The owners’ desires for the space presented challenges, explains Wilks, because human needs— bathrooms, bedrooms, fireplaces, kitchen— generally create architectural constraints that conflict with the wide-open layout so suited for animals.
“The wonderful thing about barns is the spacious feel inside,” explains Wilks, now of W Architects in New York. “We were struggling to find a way to keep that spatial quality while designing human living space.”
And yet, ironically it was her clients’ complex wishes that inspired the design. Replacing the original timber walls on the north and east sides with glass walls allowed the sun to pour into the barn. By leaving the original south and west walls of the barn, which are seen from the house, the gallery is shaded from those harsh exposures— and the barn retains that historic look the owners cherished. Inside the barn, yesterday’s stone and cedar mix handsomely with today’s glass and steel. Modern furniture— sleek leather sofas and chairs— stand in the light-filled living space against a backdrop of rolling farmland. Interior designer Bob Berman, who had overseen the renovation of the owners’ Bolton Hill dwelling, chose neutral, understated furnishings to complement the architecture.
“We used only natural materials for the interior as a correlation with the weathered wood siding, chestnut beams and glass,” says Berman. The leather seating, all from B & B Italia, has clean, classic lines. “Our goal was to match the quality of the architecture, and not in any way compete with it.”
The quiet interiors leave center stage to be shared by the architecture and the art collection. Paintings, photographs and sculpture, collected in Baltimore, New York and abroad, include works by Maryland sculptor John Ruppert, as well as such world-renowned artists as Helen Frankenthaler and John van Alstyn.
“Collecting is a passion for us,” says the owner, as we walk the reclaimed wood floors of the barn. Such a passion, in fact, that since retiring from his law practice two years ago, he has enrolled in art history courses and is planning on pursuing a master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University.
Standing inside the great room, one is keenly aware of the importance of geometry. Vertical and horizontal lines intersect at right angles at every turn. Corners of the glass box meet at the original cedar posts, and the vertical slats of the old barn walls are also seen in the floorboards. In the room’s center, a wall of stacked pine boards stands as anchor for the fireplace, bathrooms and the other human necessities. “Stacking the wood creates a feeling of mass,” says Wilks. “But the look is light, clean and interesting.”
Behind the stacked wall is the kitchen, where more neutral tones rule the day and where sleek charcoal-colored cabinets pop open when pushed— no clunky hardware to mar the scene. “We wanted all of the kitchen necessities to disappear,” says the owner, as he opens a hidden refrigerator.
Above the kitchen, more leather furniture, this time in vibrant red, fills the office loft, while old-fashioned Adirondack chairs on the porch invite visitors to sit a spell. “This is like a treehouse or a camp,” says the owner. “I feel like I’m in Vermont, but I’m only 30 minutes from my house in Bolton Hill.”
A set of open stairs leads from the loft to the ground-floor guest room, formerly the kennel. Being “in the doghouse” isn’t such a bad thing in this room, where a chic Mies van de Rohe chaise rests in a sunny window, Barcelona chairs flank a fireplace, and original beams and posts create the effect of four posters around the simple bed.
Back upstairs, the barn’s owner points out the design’s most beautiful perk. Day or night, the walls of glass are subtle mirrors, casting a reflection— of the view by day or the track spotlights by night— in repeating patterns around the room.
“The barn glitters like a jewel at night,” says the owner. “In the daytime, the view is multiplied. The trees, grass and timber can be seen, through their reflection, on all four sides. It has a beautiful effect.”
RESOURCES
Architect Barbara Wilks, New York, 718-237-4221
Interior design Bob Berman, Johnson Berman, Baltimore, 410-752-2030
