Plainfields

Plainfields, Kirk Train's striking residence, was inspired by its hilltop site in western Albermarle County, VA. The architect designed the house plan and its entry sequence to emphasize its orientation to the distant Blue Ridge Mountains.

The floor plan is based on a traditional "single pile" plan type in which the ground floor rooms (library and living room) flank a single central hall. Smaller service rooms (a study and a butler's pantry) are set against the east wall of the main house block. The kitchen, with its own entry and covered terrace, is set to the side of, but linked to, the central part of the house. Another wing, containing a master bedroom suite, will be built on the side of the house opposite that of the kitchen.

A precisely proportioned Tuscan portico, grafted to the back of the house, acts as a broad western porch for the principal rooms.