McCartney House

Architects at Train & Partners designed this mountainside home in the distinctive "Linville Style" made famous by architect Henry Bacon in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Bacon was inspired to use Chestnut bark to fashion "woodland" siding for his rustic projects. The charm and elegance of the site-appropriate materials and how they blend into the mountain scenery have charmed visitors to the North Carolina mountains ever since.

Chestnut-bark siding became impossible to make after the Great American Chestnut blight in the 1930s. Here, our architects used cedar shingles to evoke a similar feel. Simple volumes with punctured openings and rustic details define the look of a woodland retreat. The pillars that support the house are finished in local ledge-laid rock.

The interior details are wonderful: Train & Partners' design specified that the floors be planked with recycled longleaf heart pine. The top handrails are made of dark Spanish cedar. Double-height rooms and generous porches make for gracious interior and exterior living.

The design of this house meets the desires of the client to create a mountain retreat in which to share relaxed family gatherings.