Nest — Winter 2024

Page 1

home design real estate

INSIDE Billi and Bobby Gosh's stunning neo-Victorian PAGE 12

Meet Vermont's "timber-frame super-nerds" PAGE 16

WINTER 2024

‘Earthern’ Exposure An Earthship-inspired greenhouse in Johnson BY RACHEL MULLIS, PAGE 8


NEW YEAR, NEW HOME PROJECT?

N4t-HabitateforHuman(ReStore)011724 1

1/3/24 9:49 AM

Rental income helps me pay my bills.

Is 2024 inspiring new home ideas? Don’t forget the impactful role windows and doors play on interior design (as well as energy efficiency!). If windows are on your “to-do” list, let Windows & Doors By Brownell help!

HOMESHARE Bringing Vermonters together to share homes

Williston, VT | West Lebanon, NH (802) 862-4800 | wdbrownell.com

863-5625 • HomeShareVermont.org 2

NEST WINTER 2024

N2v-Windows&doors011724 1

1/10/24 10:36 AM

N4t-HomeshareVT011724 1

1/10/24 9:59 AM


FRESHEN UP YOUR HOME FOR 2024

Escape to a space where comfort, innovation and sustainability coexist in perfect harmony. Uniquely designed and Vermont crafted. Your journey

with Claussen’s Flowering & Tropical Houseplants.

to independent living and working spaces begins now.

Relax Relax

187 Main Street, Colchester, VT • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.claussens.com • 802-878-2361 M P

N4t-Claussens011724.indd 1

Relax

WELCOME TO YOUR…

1/11/24 10:09 AM

Accessory Dwelling Unit • Employee Housing • Primary Suite • Home Office • Spare Bedroom • Guest House • AirBnB • In-law Suite • Cabin • Vacation Getaway • Personal Sanctuary

Let us handle all the details. Let us handle all the details.

Let us handleVisitall our the details.

showroom to learn more about design-savvy 100 Avenue D Williston · 802-864-9831 ! products. B AT H S H O W

PLACE

For individual attention, appointments are recommended.

N4t-Blodgett071724.indd 1

1/11/24 9:57 AM

GET YOURS IN 2024! Contact Sean @ 802-307-2934 hello@upendthis.com upendthis.com 931 Route 15 W • Johnson

N2v-upendthis011724.indd 1

P NEST WINTER 2024

3

1/10/24 4:16 PM


WINTER AT SAM MAZZA’S BROWSE

• Our Greenhouse for Houseplants and Flowering Plants • Amazing Selection of Gifts • Vermont & Specialty Foods - Maple Syrup, Honey, Jams, Cheese, Mustards and more • Vermont Wines • New Spring Merchandise

If homeownership is in your sights for 2024, let the real estate attorneys at BPF help guide you through closing.

IN OUR BAKERY

• Apple Cider and Raised Donuts Made Fresh Daily • Fruit Pies, Filled Cookies, SAT., FEB. 10TH 10am am - 1pm Fudge Hearts & Flowering Plants Pastries for Your Valentine! & More

E AT N R R W COR O UGA E D OU S IE! Y RT OK A O HE C

FARM MARKET • BAKERY • GREENHOUSES

802-655-3440

802.879.6304

www.bpflegal.com

N4t-BergeronParadisFitzpatrick011724 1

Essex Junction 1/11/24 2:13 PM

277 Lavigne Rd., Colchester • Open 7 Days, 7 am–6 p.m. sammazzafarms.com • MC/Visa/Disc/Amex N4t-SamMazza011724.indd 1

c

1/10/24 4:08 PM

F I N D YO U R

NEST

Erin DupuisErin D

VERMONT REAL ESTATE COMPANYVERMONT REAL E

Buying or selling? Dependable, Connect with Erin to discuss valuedyour experience real estate needs. and integrity. A Realtor you can trust. ®

Erin Dupuis OVER 35 YEARS OF FINE HOMEBUILDING AND RESIDENTIAL RENOVATIONS peregrinedesignbuild.com 802.383.1808 4

NEST WINTER 2024

N4t-Peregrine011724.indd 1

1/5/24 2:22 PM

Erin Dupuis

802.310.3669

802.310.3669 erin@vermontrealestatecompany.com erin@vermontrealestatecompany.com vermontrealestatecompany.com vermontrealestatecompany.com 431 Pine St. Suite 118 431 Pine St. Suite 118 Burlington, VT 05401 Burlington, VT 05401 N4T-EDupuis0321.indd 4T-EDupuis032520.indd 11

erin@vermontrealestat vermontrealestat 431 Pin Burling

3/12/21 10:36 AM 4T-EDupuis032520.indd 13/24/20 12:57 PM


W IN TER 2 02 4

(802) 253-8050 | 1813 MOUNTAIN RD. STOWE STOWELIVING.NET

iday & r F k c s Bla usines B l l a Sm ay Saturd LE SA MEGA

8 DIY: In Vermont, it’s an ethos as well as an acronym. Do-it-yourselfers populate this issue of Nest, our home, design and real estate quarterly. We spend a lot of time indoors in winter, which invites reflection on our interiors — and perhaps a desire to try a hand at spiffing them up. Let Billi and Bobby Gosh’s NEO-VICTORIAN in Brookfield, full of antiques and artwork hand-selected over 50 years, serve as inspiration. Also inspiring: Brenden McBrier’s upcycled EARTHSHIP-STYLE GREENHOUSE in Johnson. Speaking of hands-on, VERMONT FRAMES builds timber-frame homes the old-fashioned way — without computer-guided cutting. Independent thinking is a hallmark of DIY, and of Essex Junction’s NEW FRAMEWORKS, which creates all-electric, all-natural modular home kits. And sometimes, DIY is actually a group effort: In towns across the state, neighbors gather to assemble WINDOWDRESSERS energy-saving window inserts. Do it together — that has a nice ring.

FREE INTERIOR DECORATING SERVICES! FFUURRN NIITTUURREE || HHO OM MEE DDEECCO ORR || KKIITTCCH HEEN N || BBAATTH H SPA PRODUCTS | BEDDING | UNIQUE GIFTS WE SHIP + DELIVER EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE! stoweliving-temp.indd 1

1/8/24 11:42 AM

Last Quarter.............................. 6 Vermont housing news

12

BY A NNE WAL L AC E AL L E N

‘Earthern’ Exposure ................. 8

Specializing in annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, houseplants, gardening tools & accessories.

An Earthship-inspired greenhouse in Johnson lets the sunshine in BY R A CH E L MU L L IS

Special Collection ...................12

In a new book, Billi and Bobby Gosh showcase their neo-Victorian home in Brookfield BY H A NN AH FE U E R

By Design .................................16

Open Year Round Monday - Sunday

16

A timber-frame company in Starksboro relies on human touch

100% Employee-Owned

e home design real estat

BY A NNE WAL L AC E AL L E N

ON THE COVER WINTER 2024

INSIDE Billi and Bobby Gosh's stunning neo-Victorian PAGE 12

Meet Vermont's "timber-frame super-nerds" PAGE 16

‘Earthern’ Exposure An Earthship-inspired greenhouse in Johnson BY RACHEL MULLIS, PAGE

Check out our current Promotions & Events!

Brenden McBrier’s “earthern greenhouse” in Johnson PHOTOS BY LUKE AWTRY

8

N4t-gardenerssupply011724 1

NEST WINTER 2024

5

1/3/24 3:22 PM


Last Quarter

Vermont housing news BY ANNE WALL ACE ALLEN anne@sevendaysvt.com

Back to Nature

LUKE AWTRY

Eco-minded New Frameworks enters the modular housing market New Frameworks, an Essex Junction company that makes homes insulated with tightly packed straw, has started creating modular kits that can be assembled at building sites. The small, all-electric homes use many locally sourced and natural materials. New Frameworks has sold seven of the homes, four in Vermont and three at a cooperative community in Alabama. Like other new construction, the structures are expensive, despite the small cost savings associated with modular building. A 600-square-foot model costs almost $220,000 to complete. The smallest, at 360 square feet, goes for as little as $128,000. “We’re trying everything to lower the price,” cofounder Ace McArleton said. Grace Oedel, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, recently had one of the homes installed in the side yard of her Burlington residence as a place for family to stay. She said she wanted to support New Frameworks and the concept of using straw: 6

NEST WINTER 2024

Compared to conventional insulation, straw has a lower impact on the environment and the workers who install it. “Our built environment needs to model our values,” Oedel said. McArleton got his start in construction in San Francisco, where he yearned

“Once I was exposed to working with earthen and plant materials, I didn’t ever want to go back,” he said. He particularly liked substituting straw for the fiberglass insulation that was the standard at that time. “It is a sensory joy to work with materials

ONCE I WAS EXPOSED TO WORKING WITH EARTHEN AND PLANT MATERIALS,

I DIDN’T EVER WANT TO GO BACK. AC E MC AR L E TO N

to find alternatives to the foams, caulks, plastics and adhesives that go into most new buildings. When he moved to Vermont in 2002 to study and teach at the Institute for Social Ecology, a radical and experiential educational organization in Plainfield, McArleton met builders who were using natural materials, such as straw-bale insulation and natural plasters, in place of petroleum-based products. He was an instant convert.

that are not going to burn you or give you tiny cuts all over your forearms,” he said. Four years later, McArleton started New Frameworks with builder Chloe Jhangiani, who now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company does use some conventional materials in wiring and plumbing, but McArleton strives for all-natural materials, such as floors made from local wood or an organic mixture. The modular kits are

Ace McArleton, cofounder of New Frameworks in Essex Junction

designed to be built on piers to minimize the use of concrete. At New Frameworks’ factory, workers pack straw into large structural panels that will be trucked to wherever the company’s timber-frame homes are under construction. The thick strawbale walls, McArleton said, are roughly comparable in insulation value to the more common dense-packed cellulose. With the prices of conventional home materials at record highs, McArleton sees an opportunity to raise the profile of his company’s new modular home kits. There are cost savings in creating the straw-filled walls in the factory instead of on-site, and McArleton said the indoor work helps attract employees. New Frameworks’ 360-square-foot base model is called the Cabañita, and it’s an all-electric, high-performance building with nontoxic local finishes. “It has all the things a person would want to live comfortably in Vermont,” McArleton said.

INFO

Learn more at newframeworks.com.


The nearly completed Mountain Towns Housing Project home in Londonderry

Home at Last

Learn more at mountaintownshousing.org.

Mark Your Calendar This year’s Vermont Spring Home Show, scheduled for April 20 to 21 at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, will feature more than 100 local and national vendors offering services in homebuilding, remodeling and design. Learn more at jenksproductions.com.

Eye for Design A Richmond home called Woodlands received an Honor Award at AIA Vermont’s annual design awards ceremony in December. The home, by Jeff McBride of Sidehill Design, hosts a multigenerational household in a forest setting. It uses no fossil fuels. Learn more at aiavt.org.

Dressed to Impress WindowDressers, a Maine nonprofit that organizes community groups to build energy-saving window inserts, is expanding rapidly in Vermont. The simple wood-andplastic inserts are tucked snugly inside window frames, adding insulation at little cost. WindowDressers estimates that each individual window insert saves about eight gallons of heating oil per year. The inserts sell for around $50, depending on size, or are free for low-income households that qualify for public assistance programs.

ANNE WALLACE ALLEN

A Londonderry family will move into a new house this winter thanks to the Mountain Towns Housing Project, a community group working to provide affordable housing options one home at a time. Having joined forces with a local housing trust, state housing organizations and several building companies, Mountain Towns will spend an estimated $425,000 gleaned from donations to build the house, which is nearly completed. Buyer Kara Corlew, who has two young children, will pay $200,000 for the home. Under the popular shared-equity model, Corlew will be required to pay the housing project a share of the money she makes when she sells it. According to Cynthia Gubb, one of the project’s organizers, a local couple started the process three years ago when they donated 1.8 acres worth $70,000. The Rotary Club gave the appliances, and local companies drilled the well and put in a septic field at no charge. A lawyer donated his services, and many community members volunteered money and time. “Countless hours of work have gone into this,” Gubb said. When Corlew buys the house, Gubb said, the project will have money to start on another. Organizers will be looking for ways to cut costs, perhaps by building a duplex or using a modular home.

Jack Sumberg in Craftsbury

“When it’s cold outside, there’s a lot of cold glass, and the heat is just going out the window,” Jack Sumberg said. A retired contractor, he

started coordinating an annual WindowDressers Community Build event in Glover in 2018. As at a barn raising, neighbors gather to assemble the inserts, which

are custom-made to fit each window and use a double layer of shrink-wrapped plastic to counteract heat loss. “I have them all over my house,” Sumberg said. Allison Pouliot, the nonprofit’s program manager for Vermont and western New Hampshire, said 22 Green Mountain State towns held similar events last year. She’s in touch with several local energy committees and Rotary Clubs about adding more. “It’s growing by word of mouth,” Pouliot said. “People participate, and then the next year they say they’d like this for their community.” Learn more at windowdressers.org. NEST WINTER 2024

7


‘Earthern’ Exposure An Earthship-inspired greenhouse in Johnson lets the sunshine in BY R AC H E L MUL L IS

Barely visible between evergreens and sleeping hardwood trees, the snow-covered home in Johnson fit the postcard-perfect image of Vermont winter. But a closer look at the slanted glass wall revealed something unusual inside: a lush oasis of fig trees, kiwi vines and the broad, green leaves of tomato plants.

8

NEST WINTER 2024

PHOTOS: LUKE AWTRY

Brenden McBrier’s earthern greenhouse in Johnson


DES I G N energy at a relatively consistent temperature, helping occupants stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter. One step inside the structure revealed humid, much warmer air. Reddish-gold light from the sun ricocheted off the hemlock beams. Food crops flourished in six neat raised beds set against the glass wall. McBrier, sporting long dreads and a relaxed demeanor, pointed out mint, nasturtiums, a lime tree, kale, broccolini and massive cabbages. “We’re getting our last little push here,” he said, pointing to the heavy green tomatoes drooping from a line of plants taller than he was. The harvest of those fruits was happening at least two months later than it typically would outdoors. In a far corner, McBrier gestured to two hardy fig trees that he said had produced 50 figs that year. In another corner, a woodstove crackled. His two banana plants died the previous winter, when the greenhouse temperature dipped to 31 degrees. That was still about 50 degrees warmer than outside, he said, but the woodstove now adds a little more heat. While the owner of Awakening Mountain didn’t opt for solar panels on this structure, McBrier cited solar as a way to supplement thermal heat production in a greenhouse without using fossil fuels. Against the wall opposite the windows, two long potting tables lay atop four black drums apiece. Each contained water that absorbed heat from the sun to further moderate the indoor temperature. Between the drums, a small ladder leads to a loft space where guests can sleep or relax. The loft also houses fans that suck heat from above and send it underground through thermal cooling tubes under the garden beds during the summer months. The lower portion of the greenhouse is about 720 square feet; the loft brings the total square footage to 1,000. The loft’s low ceiling forced McBrier to hunch while sitting in a chair, but the vantage offered a great view of the foliage below, as well as the valley beyond. The loft design could be expanded for future clients looking for more headspace, he said. Originally from Colorado, where he was a landscaper, McBrier moved to Vermont seven years ago. His experience working at apple orchards and sugaring operations — and seeing how important they are as local gathering places — convinced him to stay. “There was that connection with the Earth that I was really seeking in

The loft

As it turns out, the structure is actually a year-round greenhouse. And unlike most cold-weather greenhouses, which are built from new materials, this one is largely made of earth and old tires. Its warmth comes from the sun and the 10-foot, man-made hillside behind it. The greenhouse was designed in 2022 for an intentional living community, Awakening Mountain, by one of its residents, Brenden McBrier, 33. The owner of Regenerative Retrofits, a design and build company, he specializes in sustainable architecture and small-scale food production, also known as permaculture. He based his greenhouse concept, which he plans to replicate across the country, on the Earthship style of architecture, which uses natural and upcycled materials to collect and store Earth resources like energy from the sun and rainwater and grow food on-site. Earthships facilitate comprehensive off-grid living, providing for everything from cooking and sleeping space to water catchment and sewage treatment. McBrier’s “earthern greenhouse,” as he calls it, is focused on the food production aspect. In mid-December, he opened the door to the Johnson greenhouse and gave Nest a tour. Outside, the weather was in the low 30s. Snow covered the massive mound of “rock” — made of sand-based cement, earth and old tires — that serves as the greenhouse’s back wall and helps moderate its temperature. Each tire is packed with earth, stacked, and mortared with cement or a cement alternative. The earth acts like a battery to store thermal

A window showing the tires and earth used in the greenhouse’s back wall

‘EARTHERN’ EXPOSURE NEST WINTER 2024

» P.10 9


Brenden McBrier in the loft

PHOTOS: LUKE AWTRY

‘Earthern’ Exposure « P.9 Colorado that I just didn’t have, other than through landscaping,” he said. McBrier built a tiny home in Johnson and eventually worked for fellow resident Michael Zebrowski, founder of Up End This, a sustainable design company and tiny house manufacturer. McBrier helped build the company’s low-barrier shelter pods on Burlington’s Elmwood Avenue in 2022. “He’s a hard worker, and he really helped that project over the finish line,” Zebrowski said. McBrier has studied Earthships extensively, beginning with a 2016 project in Uruguay through the Earthship Biotecture Academy. Since then, he’s helped build Earthships, tiny houses and other sustainable homes across the United States and beyond. Earthships aren’t new; architect Michael Reynolds introduced the concept in the 1970s, and there are at least a handful in the Green Mountain State. But McBrier may be the first Vermonter to apply the principle to greenhouses. In a state with so many gardeners and nature Brenden McBrier tending to his plants

10

NEST WINTER 2024


DESIGN

Rates are up… true Inventory is low… true Kelly can help… true Homeownership is possible.

Call me today!

Modern sanctuary… in the heart of Northern VT!

Check me out on Macebook@ Kelly Deforge, Mortgage Guide Top VHFA Lender!

KELLY A. DEFORGE Plants growing in the loft

IN A STATE WITH SO MANY GARDENERS AND NATURE LOVERS,

IT’S EASY TO SEE HOW THE UPCYCLED, CLIMATE-FRIENDLIER DESIGN COULD TAKE OFF. lovers, it’s easy to see how the upcycled, climate-friendlier design could take off. “So much of the greenhouse industry does rely on a huge amount of energy to create that climate,” said Cymone Bedford of Morrisville, who lived in a Vermont Earthship for more than two years. “What Earthship design does is make [structures] super-efficient and optimizes things so you don’t need as much energy input,” she added. “It allows you to grow things you [otherwise] wouldn’t be able to grow there, especially at different times of the year.” The protection that earthern

Minutes to JAY PEAK RESORT!

Senior Mortgage Loan Originator NMLS: 103643

greenhouses provide to plants extends MLS# 4978438 beyond temperature. They also guard against wind damage from storms and 3006 Vt Rt 101, Troy - $475,000 could incorporate water-catchment sysSherwoodRealEstateVT@gmail.com tems in flood-prone areas — a prevalent Margo Sherwood 802.782.0821 concern in Vermont as climate change Shayna Sherwood 323.708.2900 takes hold. “When our town gets slammed SherwoodRealEstate.net by a flood twice in five months, you Family owned since 1988! can’t say it’s a hundred-year event,” 31 Market Street, Williston, VT said Zebrowski, whose manufacturing production space was inundated with ublocal.com • 802-318-7395 42 inches of water last summer. In kdeforge@ublocal.com the face of so many environmentally damaging conditions, he said, more people are looking for climate-friendly N8v-UnionBankKellyD062823.indd 1 6/19/23 N8v-sherwoodrealestate011724 12:23 PM 1 1/11/24 2:09 PM solutions. McBrier insists those solutions needn’t be expensive. Earthships can be built quickly by a large group of people, using as many found materials as possible. His recommendation for those who aren’t sure they’re ready to commit? Start small. “Start with a pot,” he said. “Build a small greenhouse off a shed.” It’s sage advice, since Earthships are all about adaptation. ➆ Fire Design • Sales & Service • 802-316-3081 1860 Williston Road, Ste. 3, South Burlington • www.blazing-design.com

INFO

Learn more at regenerativeretrofits.design.

n8h-blazingdesigns031721.indd 1

3/3/21 4:16 PM

COURTESY OF BRENDEN MCBRIER

The greenhouse in warmer weather

Gas Fireplaces • Inserts • Stoves • Fire Pits • Pizza Ovens

N8h-KaraMia011724 1

NEST WINTER 2024

11

1/3/24 10:31 AM


Visitors often tell Billi and Bobby Gosh that their Brookfield home is more like a museum. Among the exhibitworthy items in the house are an original lithograph by renowned Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, an authentic Tiffany lamp and a collection of rare books — including one with a letter insert signed by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Special

Collection

In a new book, Billi and Bobby Gosh showcase their neo-Victorian home in Brookfield BY HA NNA H FEU ER • hfeuer@sevendaysvt.com

The kitchen at the Gosh home

Billi is a Democratic political activist and consultant. Bobby is a performing musician and composer who’s written hit songs for the likes of Paul Anka, Diahann Carroll and Dr. Hook. In 1971, the couple bought the Brookfield property with a vision: to transform the existing 964-square-foot ranch house into the Victorian manor of their dreams. More than half a century later, the couple have documented the completed 9,000-square-foot house in a new self-published book, The Neo-Victorian Residence & Art Collection of Billi and Bobby Gosh. Sold at Bear Pond Books in Montpelier and Phoenix Books in Burlington, the 236-page book contains full-color images of the home’s rooms and highlights from the Goshes’ vast art collection. “I didn’t do the book to make money,” Bobby said. “It’s a matter of saying, ‘Hey, this is what I did for 50 years and what we did with collecting and building.’ That’s what I want to be permanent.” The four-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom house sits at the top of a hill with an expansive, 75-mile view. On clear days, the couple can see Killington Peak. They own 20.4 acres, so no construction will ever obstruct their field of vision. The yard includes a number of large sculptures, two ponds and a small guest cabin modeled after that of 19th-century American philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Characteristic of the Victorian era, the home’s interior features elaborate wallpaper, stained-glass windows and high ceilings. In what the couple call “the stained-glass room” hangs the most quintessentially Victorian item: a leather mural depicting key moments in Queen Victoria’s life. But the Goshes label the home’s aesthetic “neo-Victorian” because of modern twists, such as a plush blue couch in the piano gallery. SPECIAL COLLECTION

12

NEST WINTER 2024

» P.14


I NT ER I O R S

Clockwise from top left: Bobby and Billi Gosh at home in Brookfield; the library; a book from Bobby’s rare-book collection; a stained-glass window; the entrance hall gallery PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

IF SOMEBODY CAME AND KNOCKED ON THE DOOR AND SAID,

“I’D GIVE YOU $10 MILLION FOR YOUR HOUSE,” I’M NOT INTERESTED. BOB BY GO S H

NEST WINTER 2024

13


STB15 SERIES SNOW TRIP BLADES 30-70 HP 72", 84", 96" • 10 Gauge formed moldboard • 30" Left or right angle • Optional steel or poly blades • Replaceable AR400 skid shoes •SNOW Optional cylinder, or dual cylinder TRIPdual BLADES withHP cushion valve96" 30-70 72", 84", BLADES •SNOW Built TRIP in lateral oscillation 30-70 HP 72", 84", 96" • 10 Gauge formed moldboard • 30" Left or right angle • 10 Gauge formed moldboard • Optional steel or poly blades • 30" Left or right angle • Replaceable AR400 skid shoes • Optional steel or poly blades • Optional dual cylinder, or dual cylinder • Replaceable AR400 skid shoes with cushion valve • Optional dual cylinder, or dual cylinder • Built in lateral oscillation with cushion valve • Built in lateral oscillation

STB15 SERIES STB15 SERIES

MIDDLEBURY | DERBY | ST. ALBANS | BERLIN | ESSEX champlainvalleyequipment.com • 802-388-4951 N4T-champvalleyequpo011724 1

1/11/24 2:12 PM

obsessed? Find, fix and feather with Nest Notes — an e-newsletter filled with home design, Vermont real estate tips and DIY decorating inspirations. Sign up today at sevendaysvt.com/enews.

Special Collection « P.12 “The Victorians didn’t have comfortable furniture,” Bobby quipped. Many items originally headed for a dumpster have found a second life in the Goshes’ house. The front entrance boasts vestibule doors salvaged from the historic mansion of colonel Robert Kimball, a financier who underwrote Randolph’s town library. For their own home library, the couple repurposed 40 feet of oak shelving from an 1875 pharmacy in Schenectady, N.Y. Bobby secured the primary bathroom’s distinctive furniture — marble walls, sinks, cabinets and mirrors — from a defunct Randolph barbershop dating back to 1919. For Bobby, the irreplaceable antiques give the house its character. “If somebody came and knocked on the door and said, ‘I’d give you $10 million for your

sponsored by

14

NEST WINTER 2024

4T-NestNotes-filler-21.indd 1

4/6/21 11:55 AM

house,’ I’m not interested,” he said. “Are you kidding? It took me 50 years to put this together.” The art on display represents only a fraction of the Goshes’ collection; some 1,200 pieces are stored in two temperature-controlled rooms. Bobby is drawn to art “that makes you think,” he said, preferring realism over abstraction. Pointing to a piece hanging near the kitchen, he suggested that it looks like something he might have purchased “for $5 at a flea market.” But upon closer inspection, its jumble of shapes forms a portrait of George Washington. “It’s intellectual art,” Bobby said. “A lot of people don’t think enough about what they’re looking at to understand what the art is.” An entire room in the house is devoted to the work of Tom Deininger, an artist whose 3D assemblages


IN TERIORS

FRESH WIND ARBOR CARE OFFERS: • Tree removal and trimming • Lawn maintenance We are fully • Light excavating insure d! • Hauling • Snow plowing and more! Contact us today for more information and to get your free estimate! 802-871-0539 • freshwindarborcare@gmail.com

n8h-freshwindarbor100423.indd 1

9/28/23 1:34 PM

Fine Homebuilding Expert Renovations Custom Woodworking

802.989.7677 silvermapleconstruction.com

N8H-silvermaple011724.indd 1

1/15/24 9:34 AM

Swift Sales, Maximum Returns

of cast-off items resemble, from a distance, 2D paintings. Half a dozen Deininger pieces surround a Bechstein grand piano; the 20-foot “Plastic Paradise” looks like a mountainous landscape from afar. To enhance the viewing experience, Billi and Bobby invite guests to look at the art through inverted binoculars. “It’s just a pile of junk until you look at it the right way,” Bobby said of Deininger’s work. “And then it’s just beautiful.” When Billi browses art, she’s looking for an instinctive emotional reaction. Either “that’s it, or it’s not,” she said. She and Bobby tend to like the same things. Both declined to name a favorite piece in the collection. “That’s like asking who your favorite child is,” Billi said. Though Bobby primarily buys art for the love of it, he’s developed an

aptitude for identifying work that might be a good investment. Hanging above the primary bedroom’s pink bed, for example, is “Winter Skaters,” by German artist Anton Doll. Bobby bought the painting at an auction for $11. A New York City art dealer said he’d give him $16,000 for it. Bobby declined. Sitting on the couch adjacent to the kitchen, Bobby reminisced about one of his and Billi’s first apartments together, in 1960 in Reading, Pa., that they rented for $65 a month. They’ve come a long way since then. “I just wanted to make this the place we wanted to be for the rest of our life,” Bobby said. “I don’t need to go anywhere.” ➆

INFO

The Neo-Victorian Residence & Art Collection of Billi and Bobby Gosh, Bygosh Music Publishing, 236 pages. $39.95.

COURTESY OF JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

Bobby Gosh in the piano gallery, surrounded by Tom Deininger artworks

Elevate Your Buying or Selling Experience with Our Trusted Expertise. Your Trusted Partner In Real Estate, Commercial and Personal Property Auctions For Over 40 Years.

Licensed & Insured Across the Northeast • THCAuction.com • 802-888-4662 N6h-hirchakbrothers011724 1

HAVE YOU

1/11/24 2:11 PM

NOTICED OUR LEGAL ADS?

Check them out for important and useful information, including: Act 250 Permit applications • Foreclosures • Notices to creditors • Storage auctions • Planning and zoning changes

Contact Michelle for a quote at legals@sevendaysvt.com; 865-1020 x121. 12H-Legals2022.indd 1

NEST WINTER 2024

15

10/19/22 10:32 AM


JAMES BUCK

By Design Above: Timber framer Ronnie Stetson in the Vermont Frames workshop in Starksboro

JAMES BUCK

Right: Master timber framer Rich Self

16

NEST WINTER 2024

A timber-frame company in Starksboro relies on human touch BY ANNE WA L L A C E A L L EN • anne@sevendaysvt.com

Some high-profile projects by Vermont timber framers have been attracting attention over the past few years. Off Route 2 in Richmond, expert Eliot Lothrop is supervising a major, multiyear restoration of the 1901 East Monitor Barn. In France, a handful of Vermonters spent time last summer helping to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris, the famous Gothic timber-frame cathedral constructed in the 1200s that was damaged by fire in 2019.


CO NS T R UCT I O N

Interior of a home built by Vermont Frames in Litchfield, Conn.

TIMBER FRAMING REVEALS A COMPLEX COMBINATION OF

A Duxbury home under construction

ARTISTRY, GEOMETRY AND ENGINEERING.

COURTESY OF JUSTIN ST. PIERRE

Kevin Moyer isn’t an expert in the hands-on, centuries-old tradition of timber framing, a construction method that uses mortise and tenon joinery — where a wooden piece is fitted into a hole. But he was so drawn to it that, in December 2022, he bought Starksboro’s Vermont Frames, a nearly 50-year-old business that makes timber-frame buildings the old-fashioned way. Moyer had traveled an ambitious path in business, spending six years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a logistics officer before earning an MBA at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. After graduation, he worked as a management consultant for the global firm McKinsey & Company. But when he decided to buy his first company, Moyer let his gut — and his desire to return to northern New England — guide him. He felt at home in a factory where posts and beams were handcrafted in the company’s shop before being assembled on-site with the help of a crane and half a dozen pairs of hands. He liked how Vermont Frames creates barns, homes and other buildings in which customers can look up inside and see the soaring structural elements exposed as part of the décor. “You can follow with your eye how the load paths are following the room. You can see the big trusses; you can understand why the beams ... are placed where they are,” Moyer said. “You see the strength of it.” In a conventionally built house, often described as “stick-built,” the frame is built with lumber sawed into standard dimensions. Load-bearing interior walls do some of the work of holding up the building, creating a network of smaller rooms. The exterior framework is then concealed behind drywall and other materials. Timber framing creates a sturdy wooden skeleton and fills in the walls to build shelter. The posts and beams are sometimes concealed behind insulation and finishing materials, too. But when they’re not, they reveal a complex combination of artistry, geometry and engineering, projecting a simple beauty that captivates home buyers and builders alike. The artistry is most often seen in barns where the interiors were left bare, according to Lothrop. His company, Huntington-based Building Heritage, is leading the effort to restore the East Monitor Barn, one of the largest barns in Vermont. Lothrop said

churches, too, are a magnet for timberframe enthusiasts. “They have the best joinery and the best wood of any of the structures,” he said. “But we don’t see them unless we go upstairs.” Many timber-frame companies use computerized, or CNC, machinery to guide the saws. Moyer is proud that workers at Vermont Frames hand-cut beams based on their experience and judgment, always considering how and where they’ll be viewed. “There’s a lot more attention to detail,” he said. “A human is going to look at that timber the way a machine can’t and say, ‘This face is prettier; I want the homeowner to see this side of the timber when they’re standing in their great room.’” BY DESIGN

NEST WINTER 2024

» P.18 17


CO NS T R UCT I O N

By Design « P.17

18

NEST WINTER 2024

Interior of a timber-framed house built by Vermont Frames

THERE’S A LOT MORE ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

A HUMAN IS GOING TO LOOK AT THAT TIMBER THE WAY A MACHINE CAN’T. K EV I N M OY ER

JAMES BUCK

Timber framing is an ancient craft and a venerable one. England’s King Richard II commissioned a gigantic timber-frame roof for Westminster Hall in London more than 600 years ago, and the Gothic masterpiece is still in place, sheltering the British parliament’s ceremonies. Centuries later, as Europeans moved to New England, it was largely timber framing that provided the structure for their homes, barns, covered bridges and churches. That changed in the late 1800s, when lumber cut to standardized sizes became widely available, speeding up the production process. By the early 1920s, the craft of timber framing was disappearing, said Ian Stewart, an architectural historian who consults internationally on timber-frame restoration projects. But like many traditional practices, such as organic farming, pottery and weaving, timber framing started making a comeback in the 1960s, and it’s stuck around. There’s some confusion in the homebuilding world about what constitutes timber framing, said Stewart, who owns a company near Albany, N.Y., called New Netherland Timber Framing and Preservation. If builders are using posts and beams but attaching them with metal fasteners rather than wooden pegs, he said, they’re not timber framing; they’re doing post-and-beam construction. The distinction is important to those for whom timber framing isn’t just a vocation. Lothrop and Stewart belong to the Timber Framers Guild in New Hampshire, which has 1,600 members in the U.S. and around the world. “We’re preserving a 1,000-year-old tradition that was almost lost,” Lothrop said. They’re active in a small subset of the guild called the Traditional Timber Frame Research & Advisory Group. “My ex-girlfriend used to call us the timber-frame super-nerds,” Stewart said, noting that a quarter of that set’s members are based in Vermont. Three worked on the restoration of NotreDame last summer. “Most of the books that have been written about timber frame have come out of that group,” said Stewart, who is writing a book about Dutch architecture in the New World. Moyer is quick to acknowledge that his background is in business and that his employees are the experts, not

Vermont Frames owner Kevin Moyer and his dog Theo

him. But the spirit of timber framing is important to him, too. He likes that the company provides jobs for skilled craft workers, and he’s drawn to the materials and the machinery that go into the structures. He sometimes climbs the frames on-site to help raise the heavy timbers.

To increase energy efficiency, Vermont Frames and many other timber framers use precut structural insulated panels, or SIPs, which are made of rigid insulation sandwiched between two sheets of wood, as a strong and efficient sheathing for their buildings. From the outside, the structure looks like any other. “You’re basically wrapping it in a big blanket,” Moyer said. Vermont Frames precuts the SIPs in the factory, speeding up the building process on-site. “We’re a hybrid between modular and conventional building,” Moyer said. He estimated that it costs 15 to 20 percent more to build a timber-frame home than a conventional one. The payoff, he said, is in the expansive indoor spaces created by a construction method

that doesn’t require interior load-bearing walls. The prospect of creating a two-bedroom home with open spaces, energy efficiency and an abundance of exposed wood led Ashley Montminy and Justin St. Pierre, who both grew up in northern Vermont, to hire Vermont Frames last summer. They met with Moyer and his staff at the shop in Starksboro in the fall and watched as the posts, beams and joinery for their home were cut from local timber on the factory floor. “A few days later, we’re on the site, and it’s like a giant puzzle,” Montminy said of the construction process. “It was so cool to watch them piece it all together.” ➆

INFO

Learn more at vermontframes.com.


PAULA ROUTLY

Readers help pay for the production of this award-winning weekly newspaper. Thousands have made one-time or recurring donations to sustain Seven Days. Their support — along with advertisers’ — allows us to keep delivering breaking news and thoughtful long-form journalism to Vermonters.

Support local journalism — make a contribution today! If you like what we do and can afford to help pay for it, please become a Seven Days Super Reader. Your donation will help to keep our community informed and connected.

Join the Super Readers at sevendaysvt.com/super-readers. Or send a note (and a check) to: Seven Days c/o Super Readers PO Box 1164 Burlington, VT 05402

Contact Gillian English at 865-1020, ext. 115 or superreaders@sevendaysvt.com.

1t-PressOn-SR23.indd 1

Seven Days on the press in Mirabel, Québec

NEST WINTER 2024

19

11/21/23 6:28 PM


BUYING A HOME IS A BIG DEAL. WE SHOULD KNOW. WE’RE YOUR NEIGHBORS. Whether you’re buying, building, or refinancing, Vermont Federal is your trusted partner in accomplishing your home ownership goals. Our experienced Mortgage Originators are here to help you every step of the way.

Fixed Rate Mortgages

Adjustable Rate Mortgages

VHFA Mortgages

VA Mortgages

INSURED BY NCUA NMLS Institutional ID #466013

N1T-VFCU100423 1

vermontfederal.org | 802.658.0225

9/25/23 11:15 AM


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.