Our 1840s barn-turned-home, prior to paint job!

During the current remodel of our own house, an old 1840s barn, we needed some plastering work done and as a result had the pleasure of meeting Craig Moore, a plasterer.  Over the last month, Craig has been working to marry the plaster of new walls with the house’s existing rough plaster surfaces. It takes an artist’s eye and a craftsman’s hand to do it.

In the course of his work on our house, he told me of his work at Howlets years ago and his friendship with Bill Wertenbaker, the last of the Hales to own Howlets before its stewardship was recently passed to David Rabin and Heather Atwood.

He recently posted a comment on this blog recalling his association with Howlets.  I didn’t want readers to miss it, so am featuring it in this week’s post:

Congratulations to you Heather and, your family.

I am pleased to know that a well deserved curator has taken the reigns of nothing less than a true thoroughbred of a house.

I believe Bill will be happy to know that the property will be well cared for. I know Bill personally and, have spent truly, some wonderful days at the Estate while plastering many of the rooms that he tried to save from days of old, as well as the addition built out back.

For me it was a honor to have worked for someone who not only appreciated your craft but, wanted more importantly to know the man behind the craft.

We spent a good amount of time getting to know each other while looking out over the beautiful rocky coast beyond the well cared for sloping grounds.

My wife and I had the chance to become reacquainted with Bill, as we were invited by him to his farewell party.

We discussed with Bill how we all hoped that the house would go to the “right person”, as he was very proud and humble that the “Studio/House” was built for his family and, in his family only, for all these years.

There is something extra ordinary about the house, the land, the views, it all seems to encompass and hold to it’s own, the raw organic simpler ways of life that feel, well, ordinary.

Maybe that’s why it feels so extra ordinary, because we have seemed to think that we can recreate something better than what once was.

I think not.
Like a dear old friend, may that house forever be.

Thanks, Craig, for your poetic description of your memories of Bill and Howlets.

Craig Moore

Today’s post continues the photo tour of Howlets, David Rabin’s and Heather Atwood’s 1911 Cape Ann stone house. These photos focus on the house’s enormous studio and kitchen, prior to any work being done on the house.

Howlets’ studio, the jewel in the crown

The studio has witnessed one hundred years of creative energy on the part of the previous owners, the Hale family. Since it was built in 1911, Ellen Day Hale, Lillian Wescott Hale, Phillip Everett Hale, Nancy Hale and her son Bill Wertenbaker have all painted, written and created in this stunner of a room. The ceiling is 28 feet high and has an exposed wooden beam ceiling and Rockport granite walls. The original huge wood arched North-facing window blew in during a storm some years ago and the glass brick replacement, although sturdy, looks out of place. The plan is to replace the window with an Anderson which will closely resemble the 1911 original.

Kitchen with quarry

The kitchen was expanded and modernized approximately ten years ago. A wall of glass provides an intimate view of the quarry, which lies just two steps from the back door. Ducks, frogs, turkeys and deer periodically move on and off stage as if in cameo roles in a play. Removing just the hanging glass cabinet will open the space and create a long view from the living room through to the quarry.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Coming soon:  Craig Moore, plasterer, remembers working at Howlets.

I appreciate the kind welcomes to the blog neighborhood from Food for Thought and The Roving Home and Amy Meier Design and 5th Joy.  Yikes.  Now I need to live up to their expectations . . . .

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of spending time with the blogging women behind these sites.  On one of the few sunny days here in Rockport this Spring, Heather Atwood (Food for Thought) and I got to show off Howlets, Heather’s and David Rabin’s 1911 granite house on the tip of Cape Ann.  I felt like I was among the power circle of the design blogosphere. Hopefully, a bit of their ability to write with perception and wit rubbed off on me.

Watching the reaction on their faces when they caught the Howlets “fever” was immensely gratifying.  The facial expressions ranged from jaw drops to big smiles.

I love houses.  And the stories that lie behind houses.  The builders and craftsmen.  The past and present owners — illustrious, infamous or  everyday good people.  They all play a part in the place you call home.

Successfully grafting one’s own needs and personality on an old house is a delicate surgical process.  A sloppy closing stitch or ill-advised “lift” can have alarming results.

I recently had the amazing good fortune to be asked to be involved in the planned work on Howlets, a stone house built in 1911 that sits above Folly Cove on Cape Ann, Massachusetts.  Howlets is an old English term for baby owls and makes an appearance in the witches scene in Macbeth:

Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing, / –
For a charm of powerful trouble, /
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Sun on Howlets' stones

The Shakespeare reference fits the home’s storied artistic and literary past.  Since its construction, the home has been owned by the Hales, a family of Boston Brahmin overachievers.  Family members studied under Monet at Giverny, displayed art at Boston’s MFA, became the first female reporter for The New York Times, and wrote for The New Yorker.  I’ll provide much more detail on the house and its former owners in later posts.

Heather Atwood and Tom Stockton

This is the first time that the house has been sold out of the Hale family since it was built. David Rabin and Heather Atwood will be the next stewards of the house.  David is a cardiologist in Salem and Heather writes the food column and blog Food for Thought.  Somehow Heather has also managed to talk me, a very late arriver to the technology revolution, into creating this blog about the stories behind houses, starting with the tales of Howlets.

David and Heather have asked me to help them give the house an update to meet their family’s needs.  We are resolved to honor the strong integrity of the house and its former residents.  No unfortunate “improvements” or trendy additions allowed.  The plan is to bring up the current state of the house just a degree, so that when the work is finished, the end result will be barely noticed.  That goal, however, is no small task.  The original charming European-style windows all need to be refitted, weather-stripped, storm windowed and re-hung for year-round living.  A new septic system must be dug.  And a new heating system must be installed in an unheated artists studio with 28 foot ceilings – a room large enough for a small private airplane to be parked!  We will also need to perform numerous other upgrades, both large and small, and of course furnish and decorate the interior.  All done with hopefully no slip of the “taste” knife.

Having, in a moment of weakness, taken on this blog, I hope you will join me in my ramblings over the coming months.  I will be providing descriptions and photos of the renovation work at Howlets, telling stories about the home’s former owners, neighbors and craftsmen, and sharing my thoughts about design.  For a little variety, I will also share stories on the ongoing restoration of an 1840 barn-turned-home-in-1940, the place my partner and I call home.  We also call it Grey Gardens, which (if you’ve seen the movie) may tip you off to the shape it was in when we bought it.

Next blog:  A photo tour of Howlets, pre-renovation.