CERAMIC • GLASS • NATURAL STONE • CARPET HARDWOOD • AREA RUGS • GRANITE COUNTERTOPS Countertops are Manufactured in Our State of the Art Facility here in South Barre, Vermont
889 South Barre Road - Rt. 14
802.476.0912 • barretile.com 194
Upstairs is ostensibly guest area, but again, rooms do double duty. One guest room is permanently set up for service, but the second, on most days, is Maureen’s capacious office. Her desk is between corner windows, facing gardens and glimpses of a pond in the foreground and the ever-changing panorama of distant mountains. When needed, a Murphy bed opens, her work cupboard closes, and the room welcomes company. Stowe builder John Steele was 100 percent on board. With four decades of experience in finehome construction, he and his team were committed to creating “a quality product for Ed and Maureen.” Steele immediately recognized the organic nature of the house design. It was much more than an assemblage of construction parts. To be successful it was necessary to envision each piece’s role in the entire finished product before the first nail was struck. Susanka’s architecture draws inspiration from the Prairie School-style of architects led by Frank Lloyd Wright. Roof overhangs and pitch, the repetition of shadow, the immense but subtle importance of detail, the blurring of lines between outdoor and indoor space—all are key. The Labenski’s Minneapolis home was a 1910 Prairie School-style residence designed by Wright’s foremost followers, Purcell & Elmslie. Steele was flown to Minnesota to familiarize his team with the style. Steele is quick to emphasize the importance of Cynthia Knauf’s landscape design as an integral part of the house. Knauf says, “I was doing outside what Maureen was doing inside. It’s not often that happens. Everyone needs to read Alexander’s book.” Her design is based on the Japanese aesthetic of creating flow. “There can be no break,” she explains. “Everything flows into the next. That is what all of us—owner, builder, and landscape designer—were working together on.”
NOT SO BIG HOUSE