Page 86 - homes & gardens

t first glance, this clapboard
clad house could be mistaken
for one of the many original
18th-century homes that grace
A Danbury, Connecticut. In
fact, it was built in 1968 by Barbara and
Robert Sallick, co-founders of the Waterworks
bathroom company and lifelong enthusiasts
of all things 18th century.

Why did you decide to build your own
historical-style home? Partly because we
were young and didn’t know any better. We had
hunted high and low for an original 18th-
century house, but they were all in a terrible
condition. In the end, my father suggested that
we build our own and we thought, “Why not?”
Where does your passion for traditional
American architecture come from? I think
we were infuenced by the region in which we
live; there are some extraordinary 18th-century
houses in Connecticut. We spent a lot of time
at museums and open house days and were
drawn to the clean architectural style of that
era. There is a certain beauty in its simplicity.

How did you set about designing your
house? Someone tipped us o≠ that many
18th-century American houses had been
measured and catalogued and that their
plans were held in the Library of Congress.
There was a beautiful house in Wethersfield,
Connecticut, which had the classic layout that
we loved, so o≠ we went to Washington, DC,
and, lo and behold, there were the plans for
that very house. We bought them for $20.

Can you describe a typical period layout?
The houses were very simple. They either had
a chimney in the centre with all the rooms
surrounding it or a central hall with chimneys
at either end. We went for the hall option
because we had one young son at the time and
another on the way, so we thought that this
would be more practical for a family.
Did you use authentic building materials?
Wherever possible, we did. The foorboards and
panelling are all 18th-century originals. Even