The Outermost House: Modest Modernism in Wellfleet - Remodelista
If you grew up spending summers and sometimes winters in Wellfleet Massachusetts it was normal to run into architectural giants such as Serge Chermayeff at the grocery store to... ...sweep the floors of Lilian Saarinen s modernist cottage to babysit Charles Zehnder s children and to watch your mother drive off to a cocktail party in a Marimekko dress Hall sold the land to friends (a 12-acre parcel to Chermayeff, for instance) and went on to design the Hatch Cottage for Robert Hatch, the then-editor of The Nation, and his wife, Ruth, an artist. The Hatch Cottage hovers above ground, perched on concrete pilings. Photograph by Anna Moller via Kinfolk. A woodstove is set into a circle of beach stones. Photograph by Raimond Koch for the Cape Cod Modern House Trust. Photograph by Don Freeman via Artists’ Handmade Houses. A built-in banquette with rattan chairs. Photograph by Don Freeman via Artists’ Handmade Houses. A framed Matisse print, rice paper lantern, and vintage chair, design elements typical of modern houses of the era. Sliding doors connect the house to the beach and fill the room with sea air. Photograph via the Cape Cod Modern House Trust. Photograph by Don Freeman via Artists’ Handmade Houses. The tiny galley kitchen features open shelves, a common feature in modernist summer cottages. Photograph by Anna Moller via Kinfolk. Beach stones collected by Ruth Hatch. Photograph via Salt Cellar Shop. A Bertoia chair positioned in the entry. Photograph via the Cape Cod Modern House Trust. Photograph via the Cape Cod Modern House Trust. A series of working shutters, operated by a rope and pulley system, allows the cottage to be closed off in winter. A simple stone-edged path leads to the house. Photograph via Salt Cellar Shop. A deck overlooking the bay. Photograph via the Cape Cod Modern House Trust. Sunset at the Hatch Cottage. Photograph via the Cape Cod Modern House Trust. Interested in learning more? See a 1970 Charles Zehnder house that’s part of the Cape Cod Modern House Trust (and also available for rent) in our post Pilgrim’s Progress.