Private Residence, Ipswich, MA


“Starting the project we knew that we had a plain cape on a beautiful lot with views of the Eagle River and a small budget. We also knew that we needed an extra bedroom and a better connection to our backyard. Mat’s immediate concept was to, “let the house and the site tell us what the house should be upon the site.” Mat then re-designed our home suit our site. Mat added gabled dormers to let in the light and the view; he added a family room and a deck to the rear of our home to allow us to enjoy our backyard.

Natural materials, like clear white cedar siding and cambara mahogany decking, were used to clad the exterior of our home. These materials are not only beautiful and fit the coastal setting of the home, but they were farmed and not forested making them green as well. The garage addition with a master bedroom above was designed to fit the existing proportions of the home.

Our project was the second that Cummings Architects has designed on our street. Presently they are re-designing and renovating our neighbor’s home and we’ve asked them to design the second phase of our project: our kitchen and dinning room. It has been wonderful to work with the Cummings Architects team and obviously our neighbors feel the same!”

–Wallace and Kim Varga