The land itself lured them — 1.3 acres on Whitehall Bay, at the mouth of the Severn River, which came with what architect Marta Hansen describes as “a shack.” The house that replaced it had to have a similarly small footprint, and wetlands on the back of the property forced the new home to be constructed closer to the water.
The result: A four-story, 3,500-square-foot tower of a house with curved windows and long lines that looks like a beacon in the marsh.
“The whole house looks like a light house, I suppose,” Hansen says.
Indeed, when you do the math, the first three floors have only 1,000 square feet each and the fourth floor, “the man-loft” where Hansen’s husband keeps his guitars and exercise equipment, has only 500 square feet. Tall and narrow, but totally livable.
Outside, the verticality of the house is emphasized with a white board and batten siding. Inside, each floor is accessed by a stairwell tower decorated with stained glass art from a Baltimore auction and which Hansen thinks might have originally hung in a church.
The first floor of the home is “all public space,” Hansen says. A great room with a kitchen and dining space has a dividing book shelf created with niches for artwork. The room’s wall of windows does not form a straight line; it’s not a structural wall and Hansen likes that its meandering nature is a reminder that there is “just a thin layer between us and the view.”
Her home office and powder room are on this floor as well. The second floor holds a master suite and en suite guest room, and the third floor holds a family room and another guest room and bath.
Large windows light the house throughout, and from the fourth floor, Hansen and her husband can see the Bay Bridge.
The white oak floors have a Jacobean stain that the dark brown St. Laurent marble in the bathrooms match, so the look continues from room to room on each floor.
Unlike a true light house, Hansen’s house is more than a lantern; its design lets in light and its décor reflects the scene and history around it. The stair railing, for example, is welded steel curved to resemble the reeds found on the back of the property; JK & Son Decorative Iron Inc. in Preston crafted it.
“I love minimalism, but it can get too simple,” Hansen says. “What do you add back into the design? I find that interesting.”
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