Boxy expansions to a 1970s Cape Cod home preserve its quirks while making it more livable.
Scott and Meredith Lipnick have a few theories about the eccentric 1970s vacation home they bought on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. With angular shed roof-lines and weathered cedar shingles, the 2,500-square-foot structure read as modernist from the outside, but in spirit “it looked like a big-time party house,” Meredith says. Among the clues? A cutout between the kitchen and entry area where martinis might have been passed through, a wraparound deck, a promenade extending from the second story, and a series of puzzling ladders in the hallway that let you peek down through the oversize bathroom’s clerestory windows. The couple fell for these details, but the house’s quirks soon went from charming to frustrating, especially the meandering layout, lack of privacy, and minimal storage. With two children, they needed something more family friendly. “Even though we had so much space, it wasn’t usable for much,” Scott says.
Boston couple Scott and Meredith Lipnick dreamed of having their own retreat on Cape Cod, where they frequently vacationed with friends and family.
Photo: Lauren ONeil
An addition seemed to be the answer, but the Lipnicks worried that an architect would give them a cookie-cutter one that wouldn’t respect the house’s unconventional spirit. They knew they would need to hire someone who could honor what was there, and they found that in Ted Baab, a childhood friend of Scott’s.
They found it in a creek-side modernist house filled with unusual details. Some of them, like the ladders in a double-height hallway, gave the place charm, but others, like a cloistered floor plan and little privacy, made it challenging for family gatherings, so they hired architect Ted Baab, Scott’s old classmate, to renovate.
Photo: Lauren ONeil
The windows are from Anderson Windows & Doors.
Photo: Lauren ONeil
See the full story on Dwell.com: They Bought a Weird Beach House—and Decided to Make It Weirder
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