House Crush

Nice Connection

connected deck in Georgetown Maine
TEXT BY SARAH STEBBINS
PHOTOGRAPHED BY KEN WOISARD

We’re crushing on this twinning St. George retreat.

On a grassy slope in St. George, a pair of shingled structures holds its tidal-river view in a right-angled embrace. The weathered barn-like form, nudged from its former site to make room for its new neighbor, has been a Massachusetts couple’s summer retreat for 25 years. Seeking more space for extended family, they enlisted JT Loomis, of Blue Hill’s Elliott + Elliott Architecture, to design the new building, which borrows elements from the original, rendered with a modern spin. Glass pocket doors topped with heavy barn sliders in the existing cathedral-ceilinged living room became a 60-foot-long wall of river-facing glass sliders in the new one. Roof shingles were swapped for sleek metal panels and trim was dispensed with altogether. Decks link the buildings, brought to life by Rockport’s Vision Builders, and a porch framed with mechanized screens provides a gathering spot for the owners and their guests. Crowned with clear polycarbonate panels and string lights, Loomis says, “it becomes this little lantern at night.”