A place in the sun
While drawing from the past, this contemporary catskills retreat is a made-for-today getaway.
Ready for work or a relaxing read, the library is awash in a custom red stain.
Built before the advent of indoor heating, when a chilly night meant throwing another log on the fire, not cranking up the thermostat, the mountain retreats of the past may have been impressively big, but they weren’t always the most comfortable places. Still, they had great style, one that has never lost its appeal.
A covered corner of the expansive deck, with comfortable seating for a crowd.
Designing a home on the grounds of the historic Onteora Club in the Catskills, architect Kevin Lichten created a getaway perfectly suited to contemporary life, yet visually and spatially evocative of the past. “The programmatic challenge of reproducing these wonderful old mountain houses is that lifestyles have changed so dramatically,” he observes. “For example, the kitchen is no longer a place that only staff inhabits. Here, it had to face east, so that the family can enjoy sunshine early in the morning as they prepare and eat breakfast together.”
Left: Sunlight bounces off Carlisle Wide Plank Floors in the kitchen, and throughout the home.
Right: A guest-ready bar is tucked beneath a gently curving staircase.
Although the kitchen may be keyed to the Keurig age, the home sports spaces that are clearly kin to its antecedents. The great room, two and a half stories high, with a massive stone fireplace, towering windows, and multiple seating areas, generates an unmistakably lodge-like ambiance. The more intimately scaled dining room—graced with door-high wainscoting and a coffered ceiling—projects just the right measure of formality.
Left: The guest bathroom, with custom flora and fauna tiles reflected in the mirrors.
Right: The kitchen’s intimate dining nook. Banquette upholstered in Great Outdoors performance fabric from Holly Hunt. Pilllow fabrics from Zak and Fox, also through Holly Hunt. Flooring by Carlisle Wide Plank Floors.
“You have to immerse yourself in the precedents and influences consciously and then process them unconsciously,” says Lichten. “The stair hall leads you from the front door straight out to the deck and the view of the mountains. None of the precedent-setting houses had such clear planning. Nonetheless, the details and vocabulary of materials are directly stolen from the surrounding 19th-century homes.”
A guest bedroom, open to the outside and a mountain view.
While wood, such as the Carlisle Wide Plank Floors, is the base for the complexion of the home, color plays a defining role, too. The cabinetry in a guest bathroom is done in muted shade of yellow and the millwork in the library is stained a robust red. The green of Scalamandré’s popular treetop pattern, Raphael, makes lively contrast to the prevailing whiteness of the laundry room.
A space where memories are made, the great room features a monolithic fireplace built from stones found on the property.
“The views from every window are incredible—mountains, a white birch forest, and wildlife all around—so bringing elements of the outdoors inside felt like a natural choice,” says interior designer Anne Chessin, who has worked with Lichten on several projects over the past decade. “We used beautiful botanical tiles from Maude Made that capture the flora and fauna of the surrounding landscape, and with AliPrints Atelier, created a stunning custom mural wallpaper that incorporates the region’s natural environment—and even includes the client’s beloved pug as a playful, personal touch. My goal was to capture the quiet simplicity of the Catskills, where nothing feels overly ornate, while still introducing elegant finishes that subtly elevate the space.”
Items accumulated over the years—maps, books, vintage dhurrie rugs—combine with newly specified furnishings to give the home an authentic sense of ease and comfort. From a window seat in the great room to the expansive deck running the length of the house, from the bar tucked beneath the stairs to the dining nook in the kitchen, the home envelops one as warmly as the summer sun.