American Modern Vernacular

Hugh Newell Jacobsen, the legendary architect and late co-founder with his son, Simon, of Jacobsen Architecture, once said, 'the best house is polite to her neighbours and never shouts'. This statement is a key to the philosophy of the firm, whose houses are suffused with a kind of quiet sophistication that mingles elegant, subtle modernism with respect for local vernacular traditions.

Low-key on the outside, on the inside these houses offer dancing symphonies in white. Unmarked by mouldings, walls and ceilings express simple volumetric forms composed of solid planes and voids. Upon floors of burnished wood or travertine, furniture, much of it designed by the firm, allows for serene repose and practical, unfussy use.

Featured here are exemplars of the firm, from Harbor Hill – a cluster of 12 small structures, appearing at first as a group of smallish shingled Nantucket cottages, that reveals itself as a single serene residence overlooking Nantucket Harbor – to Windsor, a Florida Colonial abstraction in Vero Beach. Featuring inviting interiors, exteriors, and gardens, American Modern Vernacular is an expression of eloquent design.