one man's island, Clingstone

When I first saw this stoically proud house, it hushed me into a quiet reverence and swelled my heart with emotion. This, I thought, is how a house is really to be built.We should expect nothing less of modern day home builders. This mere construction, has borne forth over a century of family and friends uniting and building memories. Commissioned at the turn of the century by J.S. Lovering Wharton, Clingstone was completed in 1905 at the tune of $38,982.00.

Clingston sits perched on its rocky outcropping in the Narraganaset bay of Rhode Island. The house with it's 4 stories and 23 rooms (10 of which are bedrooms) has a center hall design from which all rooms radiate.

the massive central hall today

Every room was designed with a window, offering each a different vantage point of the bay.

In 1961, the present owner, Henry Wood ( a Boston architect) bought the dear old house which had sat empty for over 2 decades, the price? a mere, $3,600.

a stair leads up to the roof top - caveats, posted.

As anyone who's had one understands, owning an old home means constant and consistent tlc. Mr. Wood holds an annual, Memorial Day clean-up where guests take part in tasks such as cleaning windows or refurbishing floors. The above floors were redone on one of these weekends by Wood's daughter in law (seen above )

A house should be able to withstand over a hundred years of New England weather, survive a battering sea and at the beginning of every Summer season, open it's doors wide like an old grand parent happy to have it's halls filled with laughter love and the warmth of family.

No matter where it's perched.

all photos, erik jacobs for the new york times.