THOMASTON HOUSE

This proposal offers a conceptual redesign of an existing office building that is situated on the edge of Thomaston's harbor, overlooking the George's river and adjacent to three wharves and a single shipbuilding loft. Employing Thomaston's rich history as precedent and inspiration, this project will transform a 1970's office building into a full-time residence that pays homage to a combination of the town's shipbuilding history as well as its historically neoclassical architecture.

Thomaston's elm-shaded main street extends for nearly two miles, and in its midst one will find a beautifully planted public mall, illustrating an unusually early example of city planning. From main street, the town slopes down the hillside to the harbor where the Georges River evolves from a fresh stream into a tidal estuary. In 1603, It was here that the first soil in North America was cultivated by Englishmen - four years before Jamestown and eighteen before Plymouth - though the first framed house wasn't erected until 1762. Upon the arrival of General Henry Knox, Thomaston's architectural dialect was largely underscored by Montpelier, General Knox's "chateau," where the former Secretary of War to President George Washington had become the proprietor of a huge domain. Otherwise, Thomaston's architectural style was largely adamesque, conspicuous and immediately appealing. Captain Jonathon Strong - my great grandfather many times over - lived in a modest Italianate reminiscent of the traditional Italian Villa.