Northshore Home magazine highlights the best in architectural design, new construction and renovations, interiors, and landscape design.
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78 It's the Reverend John Mottey House, which has an original section that dates back to 1785. Located on 7 acres, the house, also called Centre Farm, is typical of a New England connected farm—there's a "big house" (original main living quarters), a "the little house" (kitchen area added onto the big house), a "backhouse" (less important rooms like storage or an outhouse), and an animal barn, which was usually the first structure built out of them all. Though the house was lived in and loved by mostly one family in its recent years, it was sold to the town in 2014. "We definitely did not want to lose that house or see someone come into town and tear it down," says chairman of the Lynnfield Historical Commission Kirk Mansfield. "It showcases the history of the town. The land and house itself are sprawling. It speaks volumes about what Lynnfield is." The town didn't have plans for it though, so the house remained empty until a Lynnfield couple bought it in 2017. Having already been in the process of designing a renovation for their current home with Cummings Architecture + Interiors of Ipswich, Massa- chusetts, the couple asked the firm to switch gears and update this house for their family of six instead. "It was lucky it happened to be exactly what they always hoped for," says architect and principal of Cum- mings Architecture + Interiors Mat Cummings. But some things needed to be addressed before they moved in. The couple knew they wanted more closet space and bathrooms as well as an open plan in the more modern areas of the house, such as the kitchen. They also wanted a bedroom for each child and lots of places for all the kid stuff, so that meant a play area and a mudroom. "We really just provided a general idea or what we were looking for and allowed Cummings Architecture + Interiors to run with it," says the homeowner. The team implemented better ways to use the space (only 60 square feet was added for a new first-floor powder room) and updated the overall interior design. With the help of Kaminski Construction Management of Newburyport, Massachusetts, the project was completed in 2018. Though the configuration of the first-floor rooms in the big house section—parlor, hall, study, dining hall— wasn't altered, the little house section's two small kitchens were opened up to the dining and sitting room to make a large kitchen, breakfast area, and family In the center of Lynnfield, Massachusetts, there's an old house well known by most of the townspeople. this page. Opposite page