Revolutionary Spirit

In his bare-bones rescue of a 270-year-old Connecticut house, designer Philip Gorrivan maintains the perseverance and ingenuity of the home’s early American roots while updating it for the next hundred years.

By Stephen Wallis

Photography by Joshua McHugh

https://www.veranda.com/decorating-ideas/house-tours/a36704590/philip-gorrivan-colonial-connecticut-house-tour/

Designer Philip Gorrivan had passed the house a million times: a two-story Colonial at the head of a winding lane in Washington, Connecticut, just a short stroll from a cemetery where some of the town’s earliest settlers were laid to rest. Built around 1750, the house is believed to be one of the area’s oldest. “I’ve always admired its symmetry and scale. It is a perfect example of early American Colonial architecture,” says Gorrivan, whose own 19th-century home is just down the street.

He makes the two-hour drive from New York City, where his practice is based, to this quiet spot in the Berkshires foothills “almost every weekend and most holidays, plus for extended summer stays,” he says. First settled by independent-minded Congregationalists roughly 300 years ago, Washington has become a magnet for respite-seeking VIPs of business and culture, lured by the picturesque countryside, historic villages, and, for some, the chance to make a distinguished, old house their own.

Despite its appeal, the Colonial Gorrivan admired had fallen into a deteriorated state by the time his neighbors bought it. They had long lived across the street from the old house and, with an eye toward turning it into a guest house, enlisted him to mastermind its overhaul. “It had become dilapidated,” the designer says. “A lot of the wood was rotting, the roof was leaking, and the yard was getting overgrown. The house needed a fresh breath of life.”

For the new owners, it was also about preserving a piece of community history. And Gorrivan, who is well versed in historic renovations, preserved what he could: The fireplaces and chimney were reconstructed with the original materials, the wide-plank oak floors were refurbished, handsome wrought-iron hardware was reused. But it was also an opportunity to upgrade insulation and windows, plumbing and electrical, and install the home’s first HVAC system. “The goal,” says the designer, “was to restore the house in a way that would make it last the next hundred years.”

In the process, Gorrivan added a spacious ground-floor main bedroom that extends off the back of the house where a former shed had stood (in compliance with local restrictions against expanding beyond the existing footprint). Codes also required that the front hall staircase, narrow and vertiginously steep, be replaced. But because “it’s a beautiful architectural element,” Gorrivan says, they decided to keep it in place and satisfy modern codes by adding new stairs toward the back of the house.

For interior details, the designer did extensive research on Colonial New England architecture as part of his efforts to respect the spirit of the original house—without being slavishly correct. He added millwork throughout: trim moldings around windows and doors, wainscoting or even fully paneled walls in some rooms, simple chair rails in others. “There’s always a temptation when you have a blank slate to do interesting decorative things,” says Gorrivan. “The truth is, a house like that probably didn’t have paneled walls everywhere. I really wanted to keep it closer to the way I thought it would have been.”

He took other creative liberties, like the beadboard tray ceiling in the main bedroom, the Moroccan tile backsplash in the kitchen, and the almost clubby, paneled powder room he painted in the Farrow & Ball shade of purple called Brinjal. The clients’ numerous Swedish furnishings—ranging from neoclassical and antique country pieces to crisp, sculptural modern designs—are sprinkled throughout. “I thought the aesthetic fit really well,” he says. “The painted pieces, in particular, lighten and add a level of sophistication to this antique American house.”

Most spectacular is an elaborately paneled and columned Gustavian-style bed with built-in closets set into a wall of the couple’s bedroom. The bed was one of several elements brought over from their primary residence, which Gorrivan began renovating in collaboration with architect Gil Schafer a couple of years into this project. He also repurposed a 1920s bay window from that house, installing it above the tub in the main bath, as well as kitchen cabinets from the same period, giving that space a historic—though not Colonial-era—vibe while updating it for contemporary living and entertaining.

In many ways, functionality and comfort were the guiding principles, and the layering of objects with strong personal connections helps give the home its “special narrative,” says Gorrivan and makes it feel truly lived-in. There’s luxury in the uniqueness of the house, with its roughly 270 years of history, thoughtfully tailored and updated for its next chapter, with nothing stuffy or overly precious. “It couldn’t be too perfect,” says Gorrivan. “That’s just not the way people live today.”