McKernon and Bensonwood Design

This timberframe home was designed by Bensonwood Design and built by The McKernon Group. As is often the case in building custom homes in remote areas, the site and access were quite a challenge. Over 4000 square feet, the house is built on the side of a mountain with an incredible view. Rustic in appearance, it is 3 stories high built on an insulated concrete foundation. It is expansive and lofty showing timber framing visible throughout the house. The living space, kitchen and master bedroom are on the first floor with guest rooms and a bar on the basement level. The upstairs hall leads to space over the garage that houses a cabinet shop.

McKernon & Chip Webster and Associates

Our company was chosen by Chip Webster A.I.A. of Nantucket Design Center to build this home. This 13,000 sq foot design is very complex requiring skilled construction practices and craftsmanship.

Beautifully sited on Lake Champlain, it is a house full of personality and detail. The design is very complex, including peaked roofs and dormers, a tower of stone, a 4 story circular staircase and a wrap-around porch with a two level patio. Efficiency Vermont has given this house the excellent HERS rating of 51. We are proud to have accomplished the building of this expansive quality custom home in under one year, working through a typical Vermont winter.

McKernon & Nils Luderowski

This wonderful Adirondack camp is the design of Nils Luderowski, and it was definitely built in snow country. The design concept sets it into the slope of the hill on the edge of a pond, so it is not visible from the road. It is full of detail. The exterior eyebrow carving is of Scandinavian influence and has the authentic green roof and black shingles found in the Great Camps. The gun-port windows are stained glass. It is single story, 1600 square feet with open floor space and exposed rafters. The custom design was built with a large kitchen/ living area with smaller-than-usual bedrooms.

McKernon & Michael Bird

This exquisite Adirondack home, fashioned after the great camps, was the collaborative design of the home owners and Michael Bird, A.I.A. The owner who specializes in interior design, worked on this for nearly 7 years before the build, and chose Bird who specializes in Adirondack design.

To enter this house actually takes your breath away. Located on 2 1/2 acres on a bluff overlooking the water, the 4500 square home is authentic. The exterior is eastern lake cedar, birch-bark and bark on hemlock harvested from the northeast. The interior wood for the house is Douglas fir, and the trim is vertical grain Douglas fir. The bead board is custom, plain sawn. The posts are native white cedar, both decorative and structural, including the 26-foot long trusses, which are structural. The doors are all period made of Douglas fir. The lighting is custom designed by the homeowner. At one end of the great room is the focal point: the fireplace made of Southbay quartzite stone native to the area. The upper chimney has a subtle compass pattern. The hearth is 18 by 9ft 3 in PA bluestone and the woodbox to the right is 4 wide x 6 feet high. There are 24 sq inch fireplace vents on the upper chimney hooked up to the ductwork system of a 12,000 CFM exhaust fan. There is no air conditioning, and in the summer, the design is to open the doors and run the fan for 20 minutes to draw the hot air of the house.

This house is so specialized, the information presented is just the basics of the detail in this build. The construction required a close working relationship with the owner and their architect, with constant communication and interpretation in order to build it to the owner’s specifications. The McKernon Group was proud to be associated with this project.