Local builder Michael J. Behrens had always wanted to construct a home in the style of a church.
So in 2007, he took a miniature replica of a church, one that fit in the palm of his hand, to architect Peter Lapointe of Plainfield.
“I told him I want to design a house that looks like this. I had the concept and aesthetics of what I wanted and he had to make everything else work architecturally,” said Behrens, whose design style for this project harkened back to growing up Catholic.
Behrens had an opportunity to buy the piece of property at 164 North Farms Road in the Florence section of Northampton from a family he knew. At the time, the nearly 2-acre property consisted of just woods and a field.
To Behrens, it was a “wide-open sketchpad.”
Design and construction began in 2008. But due to other construction projects and personal commitments, it took Behrens and his team until 2011 to finish.
Now the 2,951-square-foot house is on the market for $850,000. The single-family, three-bedroom and four-bathroom home sits across from the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area.
He said the idea was not to build a conventional home, but construct more of a theme-style house, like a church, and what he described as a house that has been in New England for a long time. Originally, he had envisioned renovating an old church into a home because he liked the concepts of a steep roof, large windows and open floor plan inside.
“I was brought up Catholic so I spent a lot of time on my knees in church looking around,” he said, noting that the exterior of the house and the parlor entrance most resemble a church.
Before the first nail was struck, Behrens and his son, Kory, cleared about 80 trees on the property, including varieties such as oak and hemlock. Next, they had the trees cut into usable dimensions. A number of the architectural designs within the house are made of the wood they harvested.
“There’s things that people have been doing for 200 years in New England, and one of them is using the material from the land, so that’s what we did here,” he said.
The front of the house showcases a tower that emerges up from the double doors, a style most churches feature as an entrance, Behrens said.
The first floor of the house features rustic maple flooring, an open kitchen area, a common space, and two bathrooms. In the common space, a three-flue fireplace with a chimney that goes up through the 20-foot-high cathedral ceiling is constructed of Corinthian blue granite from the Adirondacks. Millwork for the fireplace, including the mantel, is recycled antique pine timber from one of the original buildings at Smith College. Two of the flues in the chimney hook up to woodstoves, including one in the basement.
The kitchen cabinets, except for the wood surrounding the glass doors, are constructed from a twin oak that once grew on the property. Only a stump remains in the side yard, which can be seen from the kitchen through a window in the common area.
One of the counters that serves as part of an island in the center of the kitchen is actually a slice from one tree with dimensions 38 inches wide and about 10 feet long. It’s a tropical hardwood known as vermillion. more commonly known as Andaman padauk.
“This is one of the few exotic pieces in the house. I couldn’t resist including it for its size and stability,” he said.
The marble countertops on the opposite side of the island from the piece of vermillion, and on either side of the stove, are from Vermont. Behrens said he tried to use local materials as much as possible in constructing the house. Off the kitchen area are a pantry, laundry room and a room that faces the backyard, which could be used as either a guest space or den.
A circular window located in the room with the fireplace stands out among all of the double-hung windows and large skylight.
“These kinds of houses tend to have a lot of horizontal or vertical lines, so the circular shape draws your eyes there and soften things down,” he said.
Due to the steep angle of the roof, common in many church architectural styles, snow tends to slide off more easily, Behrens said.
On the next level, which has all cherry flooring, stairs lead to an open space above the kitchen that could be used as a lounge area, which features a half wall that overlooks the room with the fireplace.
Adjacent to the open area upstairs are two identical bedrooms separated by a full bathroom that is set at the front of the house inside the tower space and features a large round window. Some of the wood used in the bathroom comes from the property or the same vermillion wood as the kitchen island counter.
On the same level is a master bedroom, which has a window seat located below three 6-foot-tall double-hung windows facing the backyard. A walk-in closet with aromatic cedar and a full master bath with a doorless walk-in shower complete that area.
The top floor of the house is currently unfinished space, but Behrens envisions it could be used as a child’s playroom, another bedroom, home office or attic storage.
With the assistance of three other carpenters, Behrens, an experienced tradesman, handled some of the rough and finished carpentry, all the tile work, hardwood flooring and wiring of the house.
“It’s great because I got the biggest bang for my buck because there’s a lot of sweat equity and I had more control over things,” he said.•
Contact Judith Kelliher at .beetlepress@hotmail.com.
