River Bank Lane · Old Lyme, Connecticut

River Bank Lane

Half the house came off. What went back on was set at 45° to what stayed.

The job started as a demolition. The east hall and the east wing came off the existing house, and the ground was cut away to within inches of a foundation that had never been meant to see daylight. Everything that was not coming down had to keep standing while it happened.

Sheet A3.1 carries two notes in the architect’s own hand: media room wing shown straight on not at 45 degree angle, and garage wing shown straight on, not at 45 degree angle. The plan was flattened so it could be drawn. On the ground both new wings leave the house on the diagonal.

That single decision prices every other one. The roof meets itself in valleys that are not square. Trim dies into corners that are not 90°. The stone base turns corners a mason cannot snap a line on. And the terraces, laid on the diagonal, cannot be set by eye at all — which is why there are ten pages of drawings for them.

The timbers went up over ceilings that were already finished and painted. The chimney was built inside the open frame, up to the peak of the gable, before there was any drywall to hide a joint against. The kennels, the cabinets and the tops were made in our own shop.

What came off

The existing house with the excavation cut down hard against its old concrete foundation — **Before**The excavation taken down against a foundation that was never meant to be seen. The house stayed where it was while the ground went away beside it.

The vertical cut line where the east wing was removed, through clapboard and sheathing — **The cut**Where the east wing came off. The line runs down through the clapboard, the sheathing and the band, and the rest of the house stands on the other side of it.

II.

Ground

Stepped footing forms running down a slope with rebar dowels, beside a poured and damp-proofed foundation wall — **Footings**Stepping down the slope. Every step has to land on undisturbed soil and still bring the wall above it up to one level.

III.

On the diagonal

The garage wing framed and sheathed, with deep rake overhangs and an open loft gable — **Garage wing**Rake overhangs framed out on outlookers before the roof sheathing goes on. The existing house sits behind it on a different line.

Aerial view of the finished roof showing two new wings leaving the main house at forty-five degrees — **From above**The reason for everything else. Both new wings leave the house at 45°, so every valley on the roof runs on the diagonal and no two planes meet square.

IV.

Timber and stone

A full-height stone chimney breast built inside the open frame, with one long stone lintel over the firebox — **Chimney**Built up through the open frame to the peak of the gable, before any drywall. One stone carries the full width of the opening, with an open recess either side of the firebox.

Two carpenters on staging clamping a timber tie beam up against a finished painted ceiling — **Setting a tie beam**The ceiling is finished and painted already. The timbers go up over it on clamps, and the joint has to close the first time.

An outside corner of the stone base, with long stones alternating their return on each course — **The corner**Each course turns with a long stone and the next course turns the other way. A corner is where a stone wall tells you what it is.

From our shop

A cut and polished agate slab resting on a glued-up wood panel in the shop — **The agate**Cut and polished, laid on the panel to find where it would sit.

A glued-up panel in pipe clamps with a free-form opening cut through it to receive the agate — **The opening cut to it**No straight line anywhere in it, cut through a glued-up panel, with the clamps still on.

The two-bay kennel case standing on the bench in the shop before paint, with black bar fronts — **The kennel case, before paint**On the bench in our shop. It is the same unit that appears below in the mudroom, painted, with the dogs in it.

VI.

Finished

The entry hall seen from the upper landing, with a white oak plank ceiling, a branch chandelier and a cable rail — **Entry**From the landing. Oak boards run up to the ridge, the arched window sits over the door, and the rail is cable through oak posts.

Oak trusses against the stone chimney, seen from the room below — **The same trusses, from below**Against the chimney, with the gable glazing beyond.

A navy office with white oak counters and a round interior window looking through to stone and a timber — **Office**The round window is interior. It looks through the wall to the stone and the truss on the other side.

The mudroom built-in with cubbies above and two dog kennels below, with two dogs in them — **Mudroom**The case from the shop, painted and set. Beadboard backs, bar fronts, an oak top across the whole run.

A navy double vanity with two arched brass mirrors and blue glass sconces — **Vanity**Two basins on an open-base case, arched mirrors, blue glass. The navy tile at the left is the shower.

A recessed bar niche with two oak shelves on black rails, tile back and an undercounter refrigerator — **The niche**Two oak shelves on black rails, tile to the underside of the head, refrigerator below the counter.

A shower lined in navy gloss tile set vertically, with a scalloped white mosaic floor — **Shower**Navy gloss stacked vertically with white grout, and a scalloped mosaic on the floor.

A bathroom with a wood plank ceiling, large format grey porcelain, a glass shower and a freestanding roll-top tub — **Bath**Oak ceiling the length of the room, large-format porcelain, a roll-top tub against the long wall.

A two-story plywood climbing wall on a T-nut grid with holds, ropes and belay devices at the top — **Climbing wall**Two stories of plywood on a T-nut grid, with the belays mounted at the top. Every panel was drilled out on the grid before it went up, and the seams had to land on blocking.

Ten pages for a terrace

In December 2023 a memo went out to the mason. Ten pages on Sapia letterhead. Pages 8 and 9 are the terraces, drawn out individual stone by individual stone.

The upper terrace runs on the diagonal: a running-bond field of large rectangles, called out at 416, 297 and 95 square feet, dimensioned to the sixteenth — 18′-0 7/16″, 17′-3 15/16″, 7′-5 3/4″, 4′-9 15/16″. Below it a herringbone field of 200 square feet, with its steps.

A square field can be laid by eye and closed up at the edge. A 45° field cannot. Every stone in it is a decision made once, and the only place to make it is on paper.

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