Private residence, New Hope, Pa.

   The fact that the meadow doubles as the roof for part of the structure may be the most-obvious integration of manmade space and Mother Nature, but plenty of natural stone – including an exterior assembled from stone excavated on the site and from nearby quarries – goes a long way toward making the two one.
   Although the Kanters lived in a traditional home for years, they decided they wanted to take a minimalist approach at a six-acre hillside site overlooking the Delaware River. Their stated goal was to build a house that could coexist with its surroundings.
   After a lengthy search, the Kanters settled the Princeton, N.J.-based architectural firm Hillier Architecture to help make their goal a reality. Bradley Walters, an associate with Hillier’s Princeton office, worked on the project with principal J. Robert Hillier.
   “Part of the difficulty was they wanted a house that wasn’t a house in the conventional sense of the word,” says Walters. “That meant they had to find somebody who could craft intimate spaces with commercial building materials including steel, glass and concrete.”
   Walters says designing the home involved thoughtful consideration of the site while still keeping in mind such mundane issues as closet space.
   Then, there was the site itself.
   “About half the site is open meadow, before it gets into a woodline and drops off dramatically to the Delaware River,” says Walters. “The slight slope of the meadow allowed us to cut the house into the grade and provide expansive views of the river below. The Kanters shared our interest in fitting their home into the landscape so we literally tucked portions of the house into the meadow.”
   It was at that point that the architects brought up the idea of a sod roof. Although Walters says the Kanters were initially surprised, portions of the roof – including over the guest quarters and four-car garage – ended up being covered with meadow grass native to the site.
   Finding a contractor to build such an out-of-the-ordinary project proved to be almost as challenging for the Kanters as finding an architect. David Baver, president of Pennsburg, Pa.-based Gordon H. Baver Inc., says his firm was not the first choice for the general contractor’s job.
   Baver explains that his company normally does commercial, industrial and institutional projects, and he’d been working with Hillier in hopes of obtaining a contract to build a private school. Until being shown the plans by Walters, he was reluctant to bid the job because, as he says, “I can’t complete with a guy working out of his pickup truck.”
   After seeing the plans, however, Baver developed a bid, only to initially lose the job to a homebuilder.
   “The owner and the architects didn’t feel comfortable with him, though, and they came back to us,” says Baver. “We did some re-pricing and some value engineering and we got it in the Kanters’ budget and then proceeded with the project.”
   It wasn’t until Baver began serious excavation at the site that an interesting component of the home’s exterior began to finalize itself. At that point, the Kanters raised the possibility of utilizing stone from the property for the exterior walls of the house.
   “We started with a design that had exterior stone, but we weren’t exactly sure of what exact stone,” says Walters. “We were in the process of selecting stone when the excavations for the foundation hit rock.”
   That’s not surprising; sandstone quarries in the area have been mined commercially since the mid-1700s. George R. Cannell, director of New Hope-based Delaware Quarries, was brought in to assess the situation.
   “A lot of the traditional stone that’s been used in Bucks County has come out of the immediate area in quarries we now own,” he says. “This stone was of the same general type as we get out of our quarry at the bottom of the hill, except the color is a little bit more toward the brown.”
   Cannell says that not only did Bruce Kanter like the stone, but he thought initially he could save some money on the project by using stone from his own property. However, Cannell says the realities of stone didn’t bear that out. Not only was the stone being excavated inferior “top rock,” but digging the foundation broke it up into smaller sizes.
   “I explained to the general contractor, the homeowner and the architect that there would be very little yield from the stone, so they should consider mixing it with some other stone from the area,” he says. “Ultimately, we made sure the stone became a part of the blend of the home, and all of it was good character.”
   Small pieces of the excavated stone went through the crusher and became cover for the driveway, Walters says larger pieces were taken to a Delaware Quarries facility and broken into sizes more appropriate for use by the masons.
   “The masons then dressed each piece on the site,” says Walters. “We specified a variation on a coursed rubble pattern for the exterior walls, with continuous horizontal lines and random vertical edges. The masons worked with a mix of stones and did a great job.”
   Baver, too, was pleased with Delaware Quarries. He says not only did the company have the right quality, selection and price for the exterior stone, but the firm also supplied the decorative stone – mostly bluestone – that was used for exterior terraces and sills at the base of the home’s full-height glass walls.
   While the exterior stone makes a few brief appearances within the home – inside the front door and near the pool – the Kanters and Hillier certainly didn’t skimp on using natural materials to compliment the steel and glass that bring the outdoors inside.
   The greatest use of stone inside the home comes in the choice of limestone for the floors. Walters says Bob Hillier, or rather his own home, greatly influenced the Kanters in that direction.
   “Our project meetings were often at Bob’s house, which is only a short distance from the Kanters’ site,” says Walters. “Bob has a wonderful limestone floor throughout most of his home, and I think the Kanters came to appreciate the look and feel of the stone floor. They made a decision early on to do limestone flooring through the house.”
   Walters, who specified the stones for the project, says he looked at a number of domestic limestones, as well as several imports. A main concern was that the stone work well with English sycamore, which was chosen as the wood species for the home’s extensive millwork components.
   Ultimately, the decision was made to go with a Gasgogne Blue from Guinet Derriaz of Lyon, France. The job of importing, fabricating and installing the interior stone was turned over to Philadelphia-based Marble Concepts following a bid.
   “Once I was awarded the contract, I accumulated samples for them, and created the shop drawings and submittals,” says company president John Di Donato. “Then, I went out and found the limestone and imported it directly from France.”
   Di Donato says the process went fairly smoothly and was completed in about three months. Both his firm and the French quarrier are members of the Marble Institute of America, which made communicating easier.
   “They were very congenial and allowed me to compare products,” he says. “They sent us several samples and the clients made a control grouping and specified the cut stone was to match the sample selection.”
   Stone for the floor was supplied in 12” X 18” tiles with a flamed finish. Despite the specifications given to the supplier, a batch of tile was laid out in the living room/dining room area every night during installation – and then culled to meet the tight color range requested by the client.
   “Basically, we would select out the stones that didn’t fit,” says Walters. “We developed a real consistent coloration, and the stones that were slightly darker were ultimately used for the 4” base around the walls. It’s one of the things that added complexity to the project, but in the end I think it was worth it.”
   Baver calls that part of the process the most difficult of the job because it meant laying out the floors several times before they were finally thin-set, grouted, and sealed with a matte sealant. Di Donato agrees that was a challenge, and he says he’s grateful for the assistance his crews received from Baver and the architects.
   “With every custom installation, there are constant changes, and every detail they had would warrant a change or an adjustment,” says Di Donato. “With the floor, the client’s concern for the shading was very intense. She wanted an even flow in the floor; it’s not that she didn’t trust our mechanics, but she had a different eye on the shading of the limestone.”
   Along with the floors, the same limestone was utilized for the walls in the master bath, and in the countertops for the master vanity top, make-up area and a luggage table. However, for those applications, the finish is honed rather than flamed.
   The bathroom utilizes both 12” X 12” and 4” X 4” tiles for the walls and shower. Di Donato says at the same time the tiles were imported he ordered slabs for the other applications. He’s particularly proud of the vanity.
   “The bottom part is like a plaster, and the top is almost a teardrop shape,” he says. “It’s 1 ¼” and sits on a pedestal.”
   For the kitchen and bar, the architects and the Kanters went with a more traditional granite in coffee brown, which Di Donato obtained from a New Jersey supplier. He says what gives it a special feel is the finish.
   “The architects made us hone it, so it took a lot of the color out of it,” he says. “But, it really matches the design and purpose of the house. The architects did a heck of a job matching everything.”
   To finish off the project’s interior use of stone, Hillier and the Kanters chose Winchester black slate from Vermont Structural Slate for the home’s two fireplaces. While Walters describes the surround for the fireplace in the greeting room as “modest,” it’s one entire wall in the master den.
   “That’s one of my favorite materials in the home,” says Walters. “The honed finish leaves the slate with a soft, delicate feel.”
   Di Donato says the slate was bought in slabs and cut-to-size for the master-den fireplace.
   “They have a running bond joint on the fireplace wall,” he explains. “We cut-to-size and made all the corners.”
   In the end, despite all the intricacies of such a custom job, everyone seems satisfied with the project. Di Donato, whose shop typically does such high-end custom jobs, had plenty of praise for both the contractor and the architects.
   “Dave Baver was excellent to work with and the people from Hillier were fantastic,” he says. “They understood when conditions had to be changed or adjusted. They really listened to us and adjusted so we could do a good and complete job.”
   Baver says the experience was such that he might even consider doing more homes in the future.
   “This was an interesting job because the house was so unique,” he says. “Certainly, if a similar opportunity came along, we’d look at it.”
   Hillier’s Walters, too, agrees that the project was a challenge – but a very special one.
   “When you have a wonderful client and a terrific site, there is an opportunity and a challenge to create truly inspired architecture,” Walters concludes. “It was great to be able to help give shape to Bruce and Nancy’s dream. Now, seeing their dreams realized makes it all worthwhile.”

Client: Bruce and Nancy Kanter, New Hope, Pa.
Architect: Hillier Architecture, Princeton, N.J.
General Contractor: Gordon H. Baver Inc., Pennsburg, Pa.
Interior Stone Supplier, Fabricator and Installer: Marble Concepts, Philadelphia
Exterior Stone Supplier: Delaware Quarries, New Hope, Pa.

This article first appeared in the December 2004 print edition of Stone Business. ©2004 Western Business Media Inc.