We are very happy to be back listing another modern house in Lincoln, if for no other reason than to have all our friends from
Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln (FoMA) come and visit us.
Just up the road from Valley Pond, 2 Old Conant Road is a 1973 Deck House beautifully sited on a wooded lot not far from the juncture of Conant and Old Conant Roads. With the soaring architectural lines and abundant natural light associated with Deck House, the open floor plan flows room living to dining room to kitchen. Cozy up to the fireplace with a hot toddy and enjoy views of pines from each window. Five bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a family/rec room on walk-out lower level. Custom cabinetry; hardwood floors; skylights; gas cooktop; huge garage/barn; and an expansive deck (naturally!) However, as photographer and Deck House resident, David Travers points out, "the name derives from the tongue-and-groove cedar or Douglas Fir decking used on the ceiling/roof/floor construction that basically ties the house together, not really from the almost ever-present outdoor decks."
(Browser allowing, click any image to enlarge) (See below for more information on Deck House and the neighborhood)Offered for $769,000. Open house 12:30-2 pm Sunday, November 14. Contact us at
Billjanovitz@hammondre.com for more information.
5 bedrooms
2 full baths
2583 square feet of living area
Heated by oil-fired hot water baseboard heat.
Private water and septic (Title V in hand)
80,131 s.f. lot (1.83 acres)
Gas cooktop (propane fired)
Wall ovens
Laundry room
Family room in walk-out lower level
Full deck off of the main living area, accessed by sliders
Large garage/barn with additional storage.
Recent updates: newer roof and skylights; updates air conditioning and heating.
The Neighborhood There are two main approaches to 2 Old Conant. One is to go pass the classic
Dairy Joy stand with unparalleled ice cream and fried foods (be still -- if not healthy -- my heart!) on Rt. 117 and then to take a right up Conant, passing by the pastoral Valley Pond on the left. The other option is to come in from the north, via Trapelo Road, up Laurel Hill to Conant, passing through farms, meadows, and other architectural gems along the way. There, at the juncture of Conant and Old Conant Roads, set back along a long private driveway, is 2 Old Conant.
The house is surrounded by other Deck Houses and modernist homes, within sight of the stunning International-style modernist house that
Earl Flansburgh built for himself and his family. Those alt-rocker friends of mine might recognize the surname shared with Earl's son, John, of They Might Be Giants.
About DeckhouseActon, MA-based
Deck House was recently resuscitated by local businessman, Tom Trudeau, after the recent recession brought the 60+ year-old company to bankruptcy. The roots grew -- pardon the pun - out of Acorn Structures, a trailblazing company founded in 1947 by John Bremis and the
legendary Techbuilt and Snake Hill architect Carl Koch (see info
here). Acorn developed a very different sort of aesthetic over the intervening decades
Meanwhile,
Deck was founded in the 1950s by William Berke, a Gropius disciple out of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Those new to this site can click many of the links to the right to read about Gropius, TAC, his firm, and the various residential projects in Boston's western suburbs. Deck House remained more mid-century modernist in look and principle than Acorn.
To further quote the
Boston Globe:
The two companies merged in 1995, and in 2003 Gilrane bought the merged entity through a holding company, renaming it Empyrean. The company estimates over the years it has built more than 20,000 homes, as far away as Israel and South Korea.
Empyrean began its partnership with Dwell magazine in 2005, and the homes they designed and built were more modernist than the other two lines - boxy, more angular, and visually more reminiscent of the kind of homes Gropius's contemporaries and his students turned out in the last century.
But since this article appeared.
the company has risen from the ashes and has a third new line, the striking
NextHouse.
For a more updated version of the classic Deck House, look no further than my
most previous post at a custom-built Deck in Groton, MA.A note on the price, we feel that this is an exceptional value, particularly given the location within Lincoln. Our last listing in Lincoln, the Stubbins-designed house on Old County Road (not to be confused with this one on Old
Conant), had multiple offers immediately and is slated to close for a price considerably over the asking price of $799,000.
