Tucked into 35 acres along a private ridgeline, the 8,259-square-foot house honors the original design while maximizing views and maintaining privacy. Courtesy Brent Moss
The Ridge House in Aspen, Colorado, has a pedigreed past. The residence was built in 1968 for Olympic ski legend Stein Eriksen by the architect Eleanor “Ellie” Brickham, who designed scores of homes in the area and is closely associated with the moniker “Aspen Modern.” The house’s current owners—an Obama-era ambassador to Austria and her investment banker husband—aren’t as well-known, but they make up for it in their cultivated tastes (their art collection features work from the painter Kehinde Wiley, among others). When the couple found the house too small and outdated for their family of five, they tapped local award-winning firm Rowland + Broughton (R+B). The architects complied, smoothing out wrinkles and modernizing the historic house with sleek contemporary materials.
To accommodate new bedrooms and living spaces within the existing plan, principal Sarah Broughton and her team extended the existing 100-foot spine that runs north-south through the house. This hallway also serves to naturally divide the interiors into public versus private zones, which are, moreover, articulated on the exterior facades. Where the western side of the house is light, glassy, and transparent, its large glass expanses breaking up solid stone walls, the eastern flank (which holds the garage, mud room, and a guest suite) has a heavier, opaquer feel.
Yet, the architects avoided the rigidity that might come from such a clear-cut parti by cutting openings through interior partition walls. “There’s a lot of porosity,” says Broughton, “[created by] openings you can walk through, some framed with wood, or the drywall just returns. It creates this great flow between rooms and opens the landscape to the house, so that each space is multidimensional.”
Throughout the project, the R+B team also worked to preserve the house’s original feel, blending in the new architecture by retaining carefully selected original details. For example, the architects relocated Stein Eriksen’s original front door to the master suite. They also preserved and added several stone walls that capture the ranch-like spirit of the site, which was once rural, high alpine ranchland, carpeted with pastures that were hayed every summer.
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Appalachian gray sandstone and black metal siding feature throughout and the two materials were juxtaposed to de-emphasize the scale of the house and engender a more intimate experience. Project architects Rowland + Broughton also restored a stone outbuilding, a former barn house that became a library and guest quarters.
Courtesy Brent Moss
Appalachian gray sandstone and black metal siding feature throughout and the two materials were juxtaposed to de-emphasize the scale of the house and engender a more intimate experience. Project architects Rowland + Broughton also restored a stone outbuilding, a former barn house that became a library and guest quarters.
Courtesy Brent Moss
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An outdoor ice-skating area, created this past winter by the owners for their children, is visible through the living room window. During the summer, it reverts to a stone pathway around the house.
Courtesy Brent Moss
An outdoor ice-skating area, created this past winter by the owners for their children, is visible through the living room window. During the summer, it reverts to a stone pathway around the house.
Courtesy Brent Moss
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The clients have spent considerable time traveling and living in Europe. R+B strove to evoke those experiences through some design elements and furnishings. A significant collection of contemporary artwork, including a notable piece by Kehinde Wiley, is displayed throughout on a rotating basis.
Courtesy Brent Moss
The clients have spent considerable time traveling and living in Europe. R+B strove to evoke those experiences through some design elements and furnishings. A significant collection of contemporary artwork, including a notable piece by Kehinde Wiley, is displayed throughout on a rotating basis.
Courtesy Brent Moss
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The design team kept Brickham's exposed wood structure and sunken living room ("a nice nod to the adjoining landscape beyond," Broughton points out). They also kept the four existing wood-burning fireplaces ("that hearth element in the house was important"), but decided to strip the coarse stone off the fireplace and chimney and to remove the vaulted roof above the living room. By replacing it with a higher flat roof and shallow coffered ceiling, they were able to install taller windows and open a larger view onto Mount Hayden and the rest of the Elk Mountains.
Courtesy Brent Moss
The design team kept Brickham's exposed wood structure and sunken living room ("a nice nod to the adjoining landscape beyond," Broughton points out). They also kept the four existing wood-burning fireplaces ("that hearth element in the house was important"), but decided to strip the coarse stone off the fireplace and chimney and to remove the vaulted roof above the living room. By replacing it with a higher flat roof and shallow coffered ceiling, they were able to install taller windows and open a larger view onto Mount Hayden and the rest of the Elk Mountains.
Courtesy Brent Moss
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In the original design, Brickham used rough stone in the interiors to evoke the rugged outdoors, a tack that R+B updated, says Broughton. "Brickham had a Modern style but through coarser, more rustic materials. What we were honoring were her lines…and how the house interacted with the landscape, but we wanted to clean up certain materials and make it less heavy. The original materials were pretty oppressive, so the idea was to lighten it up while honoring the house's relationship to the land."
Courtesy Brent Moss
In the original design, Brickham used rough stone in the interiors to evoke the rugged outdoors, a tack that R+B updated, says Broughton. "Brickham had a Modern style but through coarser, more rustic materials. What we were honoring were her lines…and how the house interacted with the landscape, but we wanted to clean up certain materials and make it less heavy. The original materials were pretty oppressive, so the idea was to lighten it up while honoring the house's relationship to the land."
Courtesy Brent Moss
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Kitchen and breakfast nook
Courtesy Brent Moss
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Dining room
Courtesy Brent Moss
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Pantry
Courtesy Brent Moss
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The entire home is organized around one corridor (seen here) that runs more than 100 feet.
Courtesy Brent Moss
The entire home is organized around one corridor (seen here) that runs more than 100 feet.
Courtesy Brent Moss
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The team meticulously aligned the house's finishes, such as seams in the stone and window frames: "The stone walls are three different heights and the stones are deliberately laid out," says Broughton, "so that wherever there was a break, it aligned with the top and bottom of any windows and openings. It was very precise." (Seen here: the master bedroom)
Courtesy Brent Moss
The team meticulously aligned the house's finishes, such as seams in the stone and window frames: "The stone walls are three different heights and the stones are deliberately laid out," says Broughton, "so that wherever there was a break, it aligned with the top and bottom of any windows and openings. It was very precise." (Seen here: the master bedroom)
Courtesy Brent Moss
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Master bath
Courtesy Brent Moss
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Kid's room
Courtesy Brent Moss
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Media room
Courtesy Brent Moss
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Eleanor "Ellie" Brickham arrived in Aspen in 1951 and discovered that she was the city's only female architect. Over the course of her career, she designed at least 60 homes in the greater Aspen area. (Seen here: the living room, as viewed from outside)
Courtesy Brent Moss
Eleanor "Ellie" Brickham arrived in Aspen in 1951 and discovered that she was the city's only female architect. Over the course of her career, she designed at least 60 homes in the greater Aspen area. (Seen here: the living room, as viewed from outside)
Courtesy Brent Moss
You may also enjoy “In Banff, a Renovation Helps an Artists’ Residences Complex Return to Nature.”
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