Modern design collector Mark McDonald is looking to sell his 1960s Hudson Valley retreat, which he gave a modern makeover, for $3.35 million.
The 40-acre estate in Hillsdale, New York, is anchored by a three-bedroom house designed by architect George B. Post, who is better known for designing neoclassical civic buildings like the New York Stock Exchange.
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The 1966 home sits on a rocky slab near a spring-fed pond and is surrounded by wooded hills, walking trails and ridges with some of the highest elevations in the region, commanding views of the Taconic Mountains to the southeast and the Helderberg Mountains to the southwest.
When McDonald, a gallerist and collector of modern furniture and design, purchased the estate in 2005 from the original owners, the 1960s home badly needed a refresh, he said. Though it was solidly built because of its commercial architect, the finishes and layout had grown dated.
“It was dark, even though there are so many windows; it was just depressing,” McDonald said.
So McDonald recast the single-story home with a minimalist sensibility inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and a passion for midcentury architecture. He raised the ceilings to allow in more light, opened up the kitchen to facilitate flow and extended a hand-laid interior rock wall made of found river rocks.
McDonald clad the exterior in horizontal wood siding that accentuated the “long, low, beautiful” lines of the house, he said. While on the interior, he laid down walnut flooring and installed layered poplar wood on the raised ceiling.
“This area is not overwhelmingly full of midcentury architecture, so to find one thoughtfully modernized and restored by their owners is a really unique opportunity,” said listing agent Marina Schindler of Compass, who posted the house Thursday.
The property also features a guest suite, a custom-built tractor shed, and an artist’s studio with a deck and indoor sauna that faces amazing views, Schindler said. “You can almost look all the way up to Albany.” There are also manicured gardens, a swimming pond with a dock and diving board, and plenty of areas to sit, lounge and meditate.
The residential portion of the property, spanning about 4 acres, is fenced to keep out the deer and allow for the gardens, tended by McDonald himself, who also cut the walking trails through the woods, expanding on an existing logging trail. “It goes up the hill behind the house to the highest point and loops back around behind the pond,” he said. “I think it’s the greatest thing about the property.”
The property was originally designed as a retreat for the wealthy Williams family, owners of the I.T. Williams Company, founded in 1838 as an importer of exotic hardwoods, first from India and later from South America, after the invention of flat-bottomed boats allowed travel through the Amazon, according to McDonald.
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Before finding this property, McDonald had worked on a handful of other small construction projects, including setting up a gallery in New York City’s Meatpacking District back in the 1990s, rehabbing another Hudson Valley home, and restoring a Hudson retail store that he used as a shop. He also recently collaborated with Steven Holl Architects on a live-work property on an infill lot in Hudson, New York, called the “L” house for its shape.
“He’s done projects like this before, bringing a house to a really beautiful place with his aesthetic and his appreciation for history and architecture and interiors,” Schendler said.
But this one stands out. “This project was the most extensive,” McDonald said. “It took the longest, and it’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.”