Mid-century Modern House Checks All the Boxes
By Joseph Montebello
Styled by Matthew Gleason
The narrow wooded dirt road gives no indication of what to expect at the end of it. Eventually an expansive gravel driveway appears. Nothing has prepared you for the spacious open courtyard or the perfect mid-century house surrounded by the most stunning view. Once there, you don’t want to leave. Owners Christian Jensen and Kevin Vilke felt the same way when they discovered the house six years ago.
Jensen and Vilke have been together 22 years and met in San Francisco. Jensen was working for various retailers and Vilke was practicing law. They eventually moved to New York City. Jensen is now a real estate agent and Vilke has segued from law to working in HR.
“One weekend we were visiting friends in Roxbury,” says Jensen. “We stopped to look at the listings in a real estate office window and saw this antique house in Woodbury. We went and looked at it twice and made an offer. I had lived on the beach in California; I had never really lived in the woods except when I was growing up in Wisconsin. But this house just felt right to both of us.”
They owned the house for ten years, did some basic renovations and decorated it with mid-century modern furniture.
“We were very happy there,” says Jensen, “until one day when Kevin and I were looking at houses separately online and fell upon the same house at the same time. We had been looking at property to build on, but this house had everything we wanted: a view, a pool, and a setback from the road.”
Vilke had the same response. “It was love at first sight,” he says. “The modern structural lines combined with the remote location made it our dream home.”
Construction on the house had begun in 2008, but the builder had stopped working on it and the structure sat incomplete until 2014. It was divided into rooms but not much else had been done. Jensen and Vilke saw an opportunity to make the house their own without having to start from scratch. They worked with Jeff Yenter of Old Mill Builders of Brookfield to build out the interiors and remodel the pool area. The finished house boasts 11 rooms with 4,400 square feet of space. Every inch is utilized, be it for working, exercising, cooking, eating, or simply lounging. Since Vilke does most of the cooking, the kitchen is his favorite room. Spacious and sleek, it is the center of the first floor area between the great room and the dining room.
“It’s perfect for entertaining,” he says, “and always allows me to feel part of the party while I am cooking.”
Jensen was the creative force behind the decorating of the house (although Vilke had veto power, which he seldom had to use.) While the structure is mid-century, the interiors are a mix of modern and classic pieces, many of which Jensen already owned. He worked with New York designer Neal Beckstedt to integrate the needed furniture, maintaining the integrity of the house while making it comfortable and attractive. Thanks to many large windows every room offers a view and there is a massive deck to enjoy when weather permits. While the majority of the interior is painted shades of white, Jensen added deep tones to certain walls to accentuate the modernist environment. Regardless of one’s predilection for modernism or classic interiors, Jensen and Vilke have created a home that is the perfect combination.
