Rabbit Run

This has been a very busy few weeks, so our posts have been lagging, but we did get tons of comments, e-mails, tweets and pins from readers who loved the post on Blue Ridge Farm and the work of Madison Spencer Architects.  Here are a few pictures Madison kindly sent over of his own Rabbit Run.  

This lovely garden pavilion terminates a vista across the lawn of an apsidal ended garden room ringed by 10- foot Hornbeams clipped as a solid wall.  

  

He writes humorously, "I like having pavilions strewn about for stuff.  Chicken houses, dovecotes, the outhouse there in the trees... We have now nine little structures of varying size and sort all about and our girls have plenty of places to hide.  It adds a bit of adventure."  

The watercolor is by well-known artist John Ruseau.  

The fountains on either side of the pavilion lead through grand french doors to a classically-proportioned room with salvaged travertine floors and a fireplace.

The structure is built with the style and substance that Madison Spencer is known for-  14-inch thick solid masonry walls with plaster inside, and classic stucco outside with a salvaged slate roof.  In fact, the only wood used was in the roof framing and the doors.  Even the door casings were worked in plaster on the site.  Here, expert plasterer and friend David Amorose, shows Madison's then 11-year old daughter how he was running the cornice profiles with his scribe and race.

    

"A beautiful thing to see," says Madison.  These construction techniques not only create a room with timeless beauty, they also make it comfortable year-round.   It stays cool in the summer, and in the winter the fireplace heats the walls, creating cozy comfort.  Madison says that it is particularly idyllic to eat there during a snowstorm, "very Dr. Zhivago."

At night they ring it with old miner's lanterns and often stay out until dawn.  Marvelously special for entertaining friends, hiding out on a rainy afternoon, or just ducking inside for a little post-weeding refreshment, outbuildings create a place to go to- to be away, but also at home.  

Visit Madison Spencer Architects by clicking here.

All Images:  Madison Spencer Architects

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