Architecture Wednesday: The Depot House

The Shepaug River Valley Railroad, which ran along Connecticut's  Bantam River in the late 19th century, once stopped at the site of the Depot House, but as train travel declined, and stops were abandoned and forgotten, soon all that was left of the depot was the foundation.

The architects saved, and reinforced, the existing 19th century rubble foundation, and used it as the base for a new house consisting of two simple gable structures, oriented perpendicularly to each other.

This created a large open plan — lined with bleached pine — for a kitchen, dining, living and family rooms which open onto a lap pool edged in stone-lined gabion baskets — cages filled with stones used as retaining walls and foundations— and surrounded by a cedar deck.

The trains no longer stop, but nonetheless it is the perfect destination for a weekend getaway.

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