Vintage Getaway

Set a top a bluff sloping down to the waters of the Casco Bay, this gambrel-style cottage was one of the oldest homes still remaining on Cousins Island. Built in 1905, the cottage was once occupied, in the summers, by Sir Henry Worth Thornton, the president of the Canadian National Railways. He was credited for modernizing the railways throughout Canada. My clients came to Kevin Browne Architecture in hopes of preserving the character of this cozy cottage and expanding on it to create a cozy four season cottage for their family and extended family for years to come. My clients wanted to make the most of the lot and the water views. The property is situated to get full view of the sunsets over coastal waters, which isn’t very common along the coast of Maine. The existing cottage and garage was in rough shape and had been added onto half-heartily over the years. The first step in the redesign of the main cottage was to create a softened gambrel roofline which runs straight through to the waterside of the cottage. On the first floor of the main cottage a deep covered porch, on the waterside of the house, was continued to create a wraparound porch around most of the cottage. My clients sought to preserve the high ceilings and bead board walls of the interior spaces of the first floor, so just updates for modern conveniences were made. The existing garage was removed after being pieced together in the early 80’s and it was replaced with a gambrel, carriage house. This carriage house was connected as an extension of the wrap-around porch of the main cottage.

Many of the renovations of this property included energy efficient upgrades since it was originally built as a seasonal cottage. Some of these included: closed cell spray foam in the walls, ceilings and floors. All windows were replaced with low-E windows. The existing heating system was replaced with high efficiency heat pump units.