| At
the northern end of Lake Champlain, virtually next door to Quebec,
are Vermont's Champlain islands, an area rich in historical significance
and natural history. Isle La Motte, home to the world's oldest coral
reef, is one of these islands; it is here at the Shrine of St. Anne
where the first Catholic mass was held in 1609.
When Bob and
Marj Hill decided to build a retirement home on Isle La Motte, it
wasn't exactly for the climate. This is beautiful country, but it
isn't for the meek. In the winter, temperatures can plunge to well
below zero, sometimes for days at a time. But the Hill family has
deep roots here, going back to the days when Vermont's native son
Ethan Allen was a charter member of the island community. And, like
other long-time islanders, they know the promise of Vermont's long
summer days.
The Hills approached
architect
|
Bill Rienecke
of Black River Design in Montpelier with open minds and a rather
vague notion of a traditional looking two-story house. But what
emerged after nine different conceptual sketches was a single-level,
timber-framed contemporary. Says Bill Hill, "We didn't have
any pre-conceived notions of what the house should look like. We
knew we had a remarkable site, and we wanted to take advantage both
of it and what the architect had to offer." The site is part
of a larger parcel that has been in Bill's family since before the
Revolutionary War. Situated on a bluff on the eastern shore of the
island, it commands beautiful views south 
|
and east toward North and South Hero. Heavily wooded, it is curiously
pocked with deep pockets of ancient sand (complete with seashells)
alternating with rocky ledge. The first designs called for a two-story
house to be built directly on a radiant-heated slab poured on-grade,
but when the house lost the second level, Bill and Marj became concerned
with the loss of storage space and specified a full foundation instead.
That meant a lot of blasting, but it also guaranteed room for storage,
a full workshop and Bill's future boat-building projects.
"The main
thing that we wanted," explains Bill, "was a Great Room
that took advantage of the views and that combined the living, dining
and cooking areas. Marj does a lot of cooking, and she didn't want
to be tucked away from the action." The floor plan that emerged
puts the expansive two-story prow of the
|
