Andrew Sidford Architects designed the ultimate sandy escape in Newburyport.

The home’s interior

Situated on the west side of Plum Island Point, a tiny cottage was slowly succumbing to its sandy surroundings. However, beyond the dilapidated appearance, architect Andrew Sidford saw potential. Following six months of design and nine months of construction, the founder of Andrew Sidford Architects (asidfordarchitects.com) brought his client’s dream seaside escape to life, boasting unbeatable views of the natural landscape from the Great Salt Marsh to Newburyport’s Merrimac River. Now, a split-level, upside-down tower-perch house commands the dunes. “The client loved classic New England seaside architecture but especially the scale, massing and detailing of the cottages found on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard,” Sidford says. “The design goal became a small, intriguing, hovering house that invites discovery and feels more spacious and connected to the distant views on the inside than seems possible.”

The property is the ideal seaside escape.

Due to the natural environment, designing the home was no small feat for Sidford and his team. Structures suspended in the air on a barrier beach are inevitably exposed to powerful winds and storms. “The steel frame of the pilings was designed to continue up through the center stairway walls, providing the necessary lateral stability behind the walls blocking the entire steel first-floor framing system to the tall center core walls,” he explains. Privacy was also a concern since the home has close neighbors, so the layout of the spaces, interior circulation paths, stairs and windows were designed to highlight the views between adjacent homes. While considering the practical necessities, Sidford was equally focused on the home’s style, taking inspiration from the area’s organic hues and environment. The result features a shed roof, matte gray standing seam metal, decks that are cantilevered and hung with steel pipes and brackets, much like a boat design, and cathedral ceilings.

Andrew Sidford

And unexpectedly, the design resonated with the client on a personal level. “The client was quite moved when shown the conceptual sketches and stated the design reminded him of a church and that his father was a minister (even though he never mentioned it),” notes Sidford. Years later, a completed home sits just beyond the rustling sea grass, effortlessly merging with the coastal surroundings.