Meandering up to an agrarian property in Centreville, Maryland, a pea-gravel driveway intentionally sets an even slower pace. Visitors are meant to savor the pastoral scene along the way, as a majestic, multi-structure estate and wraparound water views magically unfold.
David Williams, a business investor, had dreamed of owning such a place for decades. Securing a 150-acre point of land on the Eastern Shore?s Chester River provided a great start. David and wife Kathryn, who reside in nearby Annapolis, then enlisted architect Cathy Purple Cherry to conceive a grand yet welcoming getaway. ?The vision was to create a generational compound that would consist of various functions to support their family and friends for years to come,? reveals the architect. Under her site plan, the main house anchors nine thoughtfully positioned outbuildings?a gatehouse, guest house, garage, party barn, carriage house, pottery studio, sheep shed, pool house and boathouse. Additionally, there?s a bespoke playhouse for the couple?s eight-year-old daughter and a growing gaggle of grandchildren. (David has four adult children from a previous marriage.)
As the husband imagined it, the principal abode would sit on a gentle rise overlooking the river. One hitch: The terrain was flat. ?First we had to create a knoll within the horseshoe of the shoreline,? recounts Purple Cherry. The team, which included builder GYC Group and Campion Hruby Landscape Architects, undertook a colossal grading effort to rais...