Old Look, Modern Living

The house sits on six acres of land with a view of the South River and cost about $1.3 million to build five years ago. The floor plan includes five bedrooms, five baths and two half baths. It is patterned after an architectural archetype known as a Five Part Maryland Colonial House Type that dates back to the 1770s. The five parts are the main building and two arms that extend out to two pavilions. Kitchens were generally housed in one of the pavilions so that if a fire occurred, the main building would be somewhat protected.

In the Rieras's modern interpretation of the Five Part, the master suite is in one wing, the guest quarters in another and the kitchen is in the back of the main building. Hansen-Allbright used red brick and white wood trim for the blocky main building, two stalwart materials of vernacular Georgian architecture.

The wings are clad in wood, which helps with the illusion of age. "We tried to strip it down in the middle so the wings look like they were added on," Hansen-Allbright said. "It keeps the parts discrete."

Another trick she used to make the house look older was placing a cellar door at the front of the house, where it would have been 200 years ago. The result is a stream of guests who are routinely fooled about the true age of the house.

Carter Morrow of Bay Homes in Loudoun County, who built the Hendrickses' home, sees a market for these new-old houses. "It's different and distinctive and fits in well in neighborhoods of smaller homes," he said. "It's not a McMansion and it's not a starter castle."

Morrow has since built another house using a slightly modified version of the Hendricks design and plans more. He calls them the Oak model, and sees potential for a traditional, non-fussy approach to house design. "It's simple and classic architecture, an efficient floor plan, not particularly tough to build, and they have killer kitchens with 40 square feet of counter space right in the heart of the house," Morrow said.

Taking suggestions from Hendricks, Morrow started with the original design, widened some of the windows and provided a bit more space to a computer niche in the kitchen. He also took the back-to-the-past feeling to another level by adding scavenged stained-glass panels and barn beams to the interior.

"One of the things we do is to take some of the Armor All sheen off and add some patina," Morrow said. The second house was built speculatively, but appealed to buyers.

"I had it sold as soon as I could sell it," he said. "I could have sold it three or four times already."