River House

Prince Frederick, MD

Robert Gatje AIA ,Marcel Breuer Associates NYC, 1981-82

photos taken 33 years later

I built the River House for the father of a college friend a few years after graduating from Williams College. While my undergraduate degree is in Geology, the last few years of study were focused on art, architecture and design. The first years out of college were spent working on some antique post and beam houses in Williamstown MA (Benjamin Simonds Tavern), loving the science and physicality of building. The architect for this mid century modern cottage was the modernist Robert Gatje (1927-2018), a close friend and associate of Marcel Breuer 1902-1981, influential 20th century Bauhaus architect and furniture designer . I drove to the MBA office on Madison Avenue, picked up the plans and headed to Prince Frederick MD, tobacco country.

The house is sited on a sandy bluff overlooking Battle Creek, a tributary of the Patuxant River. Over an afternoon Burbon with the previous land owner, I was introduced to the local labor force which mostly consisted of one extended family who had been living on the other side of town for generations. There were cousins in every trade required to build the house. The local saw mill, from which we purchased the cypress siding was running belt driven machinery dating back to the late 19th century having been converted from steam to electricity.

The house was composed of a series of intersecting angles covered with a single roof pitch. The building technology was simple block construction base with a wood frame. Simple enough in concept but demanding to build with the irregular angles and block cutting. The construction got off to a rocky start when after repeatedly laying out the footings, one wall was a foot short. At 25 and greener than green, I could not imagine questioning the accuracy of the blue prints, but they were off by a foot. So many lessons learned on that project. The space and form so beautifully conceived and elegantly expressed. It was a privilege to work with a such a brilliant architect at this intimate scale.