New England Shingle

Having selected a site on a scenic cove of Long Island Sound in Riverside, Connecticut, the clients set the program for a comfortable, classic, shingle-style family home with traditional New England charm. On the front façade, a welcoming front porch spans between the house’s projecting gable ends and leads to the entry door with leaded sidelights and transoms. On the waterside façade, a long center porch provides generous protected space from which to enjoy the outdoors, and gives way on the left to a screened porch. On the right, and just outside the Family Room, is a pergola-covered porch, and set on angle to the house, a large rounded projecting porch with an outdoor fireplace and ample room for entertaining. Above this porch is the Study of the Master Suite, where the owners have an uncompromising perch from which to enjoy the ever-changing views of the water.

The design of the interior follows the clients’ request for a traditional old New England home feel, with a casual elegance appropriate for the waterside setting. One enters the wainscoted, beamed-ceiling Entry Hall and encounters a stairway composed of three types of alternating custom balusters, spiral-fluted corner posts, and deeply carved starting newels. With finishes similar to the Entry Hall, the Living and Dining Rooms open to the water views, and, while distinctive in themselves, open onto each other with an expansive effect. The Kitchen beyond, with its adjacent Breakfast Bay, leads to the Family Room and outdoor round porch whose angled orientation takes full advantage of the water views. Upstairs, the second floor houses an extensive Master Suite plus four family bedroom suites, with a sixth over the garage that has private outdoor access.

“As a millwork contractor working in Fairfield County for almost 30 years, we always look forward to working on a Hilton job. From our point of view we want to work with an Architect that thinks things through and does what an Architect needs to do. Not just create a beautiful design, but also detailing the things you don't see. The jobs also need to go smoothly and efficiently. Chuck Hilton and his staff excel at this. His jobs are thought through, all details worked out, helping all the different trades to work together for a top quality end result.”
— Doug Crane, Crane Woodworking

. . . . .

“Chuck and I have worked together for 25 years serving some of the most discerning clients in the world. Chuck Hilton and staff are consummate, classic architects at the forefront of design in Fairfield County and adjoining areas. There is no more thorough and accommodating company I know of and they have my highest recommendation.”