Designing beautiful homes that reflect our clients’ values and lifestyles brings us immense joy. And one of the best parts of that journey is the friendships and relationships we build. There’s really no better way to get to know someone than to design a home they’ll live in for many years to come. The project you’ll read about here, first published in Newport Home Magazine, is a testament to the incredible story we write with every custom home client.
If a property can be said to have pedigree, then Lauren and Ralph Plumb’s Portsmouth parcel is descended from local royalty.
Once part of a sprawling county estate owned by the Vanderbilt family, the 3-acre lot boasts the ruins of a greenhouse where flowers were presumably grown to grace the family’s tables. The property next door housed the Gilded Age stables where Cornelius Vanderbilt’s son, Reginald, raised horses and hosted equestrian notables.
Horses still occupy the adjoining lot, and you might be greeted by a friendly whinny as you pull into the driveway of the modern farmhouse the Plumbs share with their three young boys. The dream home they created represents a design collaboration between Lauren, a real estate agent; Ralph, a general contractor and real estate investor; and architect Spencer McCombe, principal of Cordtsen Design Architecture in Middletown.