Rosslyn’s four historic buildings exude a quiet confidence as they preside over Merchants Row, Blood’s Bay, Lake Champlain, and the Green Mountains. Understated. Elegant. Sage. It’s her architecture, proportions, and siting. It’s the harmony of symmetry and asymmetry, buildings and grounds, landscape and hardscape. And it is the constant TLC that she invites, for which we are grateful to so many. I offer today’s photo essay as digital laurels to crown an upbeat, energetic, problem solving, collegial, well organized, and remarkably skilled team member who’s been providing exceptional paint maintenance for months, Glen Gehrkins.
I mentioned his contributions to our boathouse and boathouse gangway updates a few days ago.
Glen trained his brush and focus on fine-tuning the finish paint for the boathouse gangway posts, railings, and gates. And since precision is his middle name, we asked him if he might also be able to repaint the west elevation of the boathouse as well. Done! In this photograph, you can see that he pulled this handsome portrait together with the passion and dexterity of an artist. Thank you, Glen.
(Source: Boathouse Gangway Redux)
After wrapping up on the waterfront, Glen turned his attentions to re-oiling the garapa decks and then to touching up trim adjoining our home’s deck area.
As we’ve come to expect, his contributions are once again swift and meticulous. There’s no doubt in my mind that Glen is a perfectionist who enjoys the sense of accomplishment harvested from work well done, especially the sort of creative finishes that he has brought to Rosslyn over the last couple of seasons.
The first three photographs in this post depict the trash and recycling enclosure northwest of the pantry and laundry room. An unceremonious structure, you might imagine, but this simple design offers not only an efficient way of concealing unsightly waste bins, it also offers a human scale extension of the Rosslyn architecture, integrating the massing of the building with a more intimate and accessible appendage. And the cedar shingle roof echoes the boathouse roof (while providing a perfect habitat for moss and lichen which never cease to intrigue me.)
The fourth, fifth, and sixth photographs in this post capture the touched up trim in the vicinity of the deck.
The southwest corner (two up) wears her facelift graciously. The northwest corner (above) still needs a little tweaking, perhaps just a good cleanup of the clapboard to left and right of the window. Or perhaps a fresh coat of paint.
Viewed from the west (photographer’s back to the carriage barn) and looking toward Rosslyn’s normally sunset hued west façade (the gloomy light in this capture notwithstanding), Glen’s attention to detail is abundantly evident. What good fortune this old girl has! Thank you, Glen.
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