The Saltonstall Residence - Aspen, CO
The Saltonstall Residence was a bit of an anomaly in Aspen. Originally designed as a custom/speculative adventure for a novice developer; so typical at the time of the lucky few who attempted to build a dream and who had an offer upon it before the paint was even dry; this home soon took on the nuances of its quirky owner and delivered, in the end, a real home to the friendly soul that commissioned it. She and it were cosmopolitan yet home-oriented, classy and classic with simple and elegant. She and the home carried the scares of a Washington D.C. memory overlaid with the ruggedness and uncertainty of an adopted Colorado trail. Large in its measurable area (nearly 5,600 s.f.), the house and its owner sat sequestered behind the protection of a granite monolith which prevented strangers from ever seeing them in their entirety and which sheltered them from unwanted intrusion. The foyer of this house served as a symbolic mote, the stair served as a decorative iron drawbridge and the great room served as an art-filled refuge. The dining room was a substitute social hall and the entire living level was a purposefully too tall overlook upon an un-named lake beyond. The bedrooms were secretive, luxurious and secure. This house was a very specific design for a very specific condition and it was successful in both the façade it presented and in its eastern-derived exterior the very formality of which served to declare to its neighbors its uncertain position in the town and its tentative connection with its surroundings.
Photos
The Saltonstall Residence was a bit of an anomaly in Aspen. Originally designed as a custom/speculative adventure for a novice developer; so typical at the time of the lucky few who attempted to build a dream and who had an offer upon it before the paint was even dry; this home soon took on the nuances of its quirky owner and delivered, in the end, a real home to the friendly soul that commissioned it. She and it were cosmopolitan yet home-oriented, classy and classic with simple and elegant. She and the home carried the scares of a Washington D.C. memory overlaid with the ruggedness and uncertainty of an adopted Colorado trail. Large in its measurable area (nearly 5,600 s.f.), the house and its owner sat sequestered behind the protection of a granite monolith which prevented strangers from ever seeing them in their entirety and which sheltered them from unwanted intrusion. The foyer of this house served as a symbolic mote, the stair served as a decorative iron drawbridge and the great room served as an art-filled refuge. The dining room was a substitute social hall and the entire living level was a purposefully too tall overlook upon an un-named lake beyond. The bedrooms were secretive, luxurious and secure. This house was a very specific design for a very specific condition and it was successful in both the façade it presented and in its eastern-derived exterior the very formality of which served to declare to its neighbors its uncertain position in the town and its tentative connection with its surroundings.
