On the Market: An Upside Down Home on Plum Island

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

3 P St., Newburyport
Price: $1,350,000
Size: 2,288 square feet
Bedrooms: 3
Baths: 2.5

When architect Andrew Sidford set out to design this Newburyport home for his client, one of the first questions he asked was: “What do you want to see from your kitchen sink?” The answer was swift: the river. With the property situated by the shore of the Merrimack River, the request wasn’t a difficult one, but to maximize on the sparkling sky-meets-water vistas, Sidford made an unconventional choice—he flipped the traditional home layout upside down, putting the bedrooms on the bottom and the common areas up top. The result is a bright and breezy dwelling with gaze-worthy lookouts all around.

The goal in devising the home, explains Sidford, was to create “something that looks like it grew out of the site, rather than something that was stuck onto the site.” So, the parking was partially hidden underneath the house, which was raised up on stilts. And instead of appointing the single-family with one massive party deck to use for a few summertime fetes, he opted for a sprinkling of terraces that would allow for multiple exposure points without obscuring the views themselves. The angled perches serve up prospects from north to south, so the owners can gaze at some marshy nature or into downtown Newburyport. Thanks to the way the eaves hang slightly over the balconies, they’re somewhat shaded and comfortable to lounge on anytime of day. The vision, says Sidford, was that the coverings would look like “windblown snow on top of a mountain,” in the middle of a beloved beach town. Even the way part of the silver roof pitches down to touch the ground was intentional, to make the inverted home feel grounded and to establish a natural entryway.

Up in the kitchen, cathedral ceilings made of pickled pine tower above a granite island and curved wooden breakfast bar. To expand on those sought-after water vistas, a glass door leads out onto a triangular deck that looks straight out into the river, and even beyond to the ocean. And if you can’t stop thinking about legging armfuls of grocery bags upstairs to the fridge, fret not. A Vertical Valet dumbwaiter can shuttle your vittles into the kitchen for you, so you can sit back and lose yourself in those views.

For information, contact Dolores Person, William Raveis Real Estate, raveis.com.

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

Photo by Fred Light, Nashua Video Tours

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