This contemporary home in Monterey has a first floor stone veneer surrounding the entire house, anchoring it in the hillside above the lake. We wanted the stonework large to match the scale of the house and deft enough to match its style. We chose a freshly quarried granite from the next town over. About 80% of the veneer are smaller pieces. To create a more dynamic scale we incorporated large slabs which we split down as needed. These large pieces serve as accents and drive the overall flow of the stonework. All the joints were kept a consistent .5” wide and the joints were raked back .5” as well, creating a uniform field of solid stone.

The focal point of the interior of the house is its large fireplace. Here we used a reclaimed marble which we had cut out of blocks originally quarried and used in a nearby Berkshire town. The marble was partially cleaned giving it a fresh look while leaving much of its years of patina. A white lime mortar was used to match the marbles history and color. The large raised hearth is a single piece of Danby Marble with a historic detail of chiseled margins and pointed finish. A smaller fireplace on the screened porch continues use of the exterior granite veneer. The large slabs used on the fireplace demonstrate their impact on the flow of its stonework.

A large raised entry patio bridges the gap from the natural surroundings to living space. Two large garden beds are built into the patios deck formed by voids in the stone pattern. The patio edges are defined by a raised bench seat with granite coping stones. The far ends of the patio create dramatic 15’ retaining walls with a granite staircase leading to a private walkout basement patio area overlooking the water.