A weekend home that overlooks Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland, marries waterfront living with a modern design.
The newly built 2,500-square-foot home comes with a century of history for one Arlington family. Ron Josey’s family has been visiting the Bay Ridge area, where the home is located, since it was developed more than 100 years ago.
Just an hour away from Arlington, the home serves as a getaway for Josey, his wife, Marisse Rovira, and their three kids, a 12-year-old daughter and twin boys who are 10.
It’s a place to eat crabs on the porch and fill afternoons with boat rides and pool time.
“We wanted to create an open floor plan because it’s a weekend or vacation house. It didn’t need to be more compartmentalized like your everyday home,” says Michelle Vassallo, principal and founder of MV Architects who led the project.
The three-bedroom home carries a clean aesthetic throughout with a color palette of black, white, and gray with the occasional pop of yellow.
With location in mind, Vassallo says the windows are aligned to provide views of the bay. The home has multiple entry points to ease trips down to the beach.
Vassallo’s favorite part of the home is the main space: “It’s a two-story volume that connects the kitchen, the family room, and the dining room.”
“The idea was to have this sort of central space that was the common space, where all of the activity happened with friends and guests, and then let the bedrooms sort of fall on the outside perimeter of that,” Vassallo says.
The ability to entertain was kept in mind.
“There are 8-foot sliding doors that connect that inside space to an outdoor screened in porch to make that space even bigger when they have friends over,” Vassallo says.
The loft is another feature where guests came to mind. Vassallo says the kids can stay with sleeping bags or blow-up mattresses in the loft, if adults are staying in the bedrooms.
The home was completed just before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the family moved to Annapolis during April 2020. The kids took remote classes and were able to get outside in the afternoons.
“It is a magical place,” Rovira says.
“I get there and my stress level just goes down,” adding that everything, even the temperature, seems to get better.
Rovira says the three-bedroom home was built with their kids in mind.
“Knowing that generations before us enjoyed it, and generations after us are going to enjoy it, it’s very special,” she says.
Feature image courtesy Jenn Verrier Photography
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