Exterior

A large overhang and sliding glass door make the home's great room an ideal opportunity for indoor-outdoor living.

A walled patio with a sunken garden takes up fully half the ground floor. Open to the sky, it allows sun and rain to enter, while the walls offer protection from the area’s constant winds. “The home takes a piece of the site into its enclosure,” says Barache.

The cube-shaped structure, designed by architects Jean-Baptiste Barache and Sihem Lamine of Paris firm Arba, is clad in timber finished with pine tar.

An outdoor shower set in the timber-clad walkway offers another way for the homeowners and their guests to connect with nature, and an easy way to rinse off after swimming.

The Linns’ home, which Andrew Linn and Jack Becker completed for Andrew and his wife last year, declares its commitment to natural materials with a patchwork of wood products on its exterior. The sassafras cladding the lower portion of the house’s east face peels away from the building to become a freestanding fence enclosing a small, private outdoor space in the middle of the alley.

Dressed in sandstone-colored brick and white stucco, the historic residence sits behind a black-iron gate and features a landscaped front garden leading up to its arched entryway.