Charles Hilton Architects: New Normandy Manor House on a French Farm EstateCharles Hilton Architects: New Normandy Manor House on a French Farm Estate

Charles Hilton Architects wins a 2021 Palladio Award for Residential New Design and Construction–More than 5,000 Square Feet.

A leaded-glass transom above the entry’s pair of large oak doors illuminates the French-plaster half-timbered walls and the floor grid of limestone squares framed in white oak. The entry vestibule opens to the great room and its double-height bay window. Robert Benson Photography

From the graduated slate on its roof to the intricate pattern of reclaimed timber on the ceiling of its tower-basement wine cellar, it is the exquisite period details that distinguish this French-style farm, which is set on four bucolic acres in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The 6,158-square-foot house was designed by Charles Hilton, AIA, of the eponymous Greenwich, Connecticut-based architectural firm, to complement the adjacent Georgian estate of his client, who wanted to establish a small organic farm and create a period-style building that reflected the French agrarian roots of the original buildings on the property.

The owners requested a guest house that could also serve as a venue to host dinner parties and to hold occasional cooking classes.

Hilton conducted extensive research—he even made a trip to Marie Antoinette’s Petit Hamlet, the queen’s rustic Norman agrarian retreat on the grounds of Versailles.

The walls of the exterior façade are punctuated with engaged-timber dormers and feature a corner roadside tower. The walls are constructed of antique half-timbering filled with randomly laid custom Roman brick that rest on a stone water table.

“It’s a beautiful integration of landscape architecture with architecture and interiors,” Hilton says, adding that the half-timbering on the inside walls is filled with authentic hand-finished French plaster, a feature that makes the acoustics “amazingly quiet.”

Just as at Petit Hamlet, the home’s main-level public spaces are rustic, and the private rooms upstairs are more refined in character and aesthetics.

The great room, which rises two and a half stories, is not only the focal point of the home, but it also sets the tone for the rest of the interior. Its most prominent feature is the walk-in Camargue limestone fireplace that is a counterpoint to the double-height bay window opposite it offering panoramic views of the gardens.

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“The fireplace was carved in France,” Hilton says. “I visited the quarry during fabrication. The chimney design was challenging because the 26-inch-diameter flue, at only two stories tall, had to be engineered so it would draw properly.”

Despite its old-world features, the estate has many concealed high-tech amenities, including geothermal HVAC, a super-insulated spray foam building envelope, high-performance low-E glazing, automated sun shades, extensive LED lighting, on-site electrical/heat co-generation, and smart-house control systems.

It is, Hilton says, a sublime retreat.

“Built into a hillside and situated between mature trees, the house has a rustic elegance to it that’s highly detailed but understated,” he says. “It’s very comfortable to be in.”