Element of Surprise

An artist offers a unique take on a Chester County farmhouse.

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If you drive along Route 82 in Unionville, chances are you’ve passed Clayton and Starr Bright’s home without so much as a second glance. Given its unassuming façade—that of a 19th-century barn—you’d never know that it’s won awards for architectural excellence.

And so the adage goes: Don’t judge a book—or, in this case, a house—by its cover. Once you wind your way around the Brights’ drive to the back and see the modern, two-story glass cube addition joining the existing 18th-century house and the barn, you’ll see what all the fuss is about.

Not that any of this was ever intended. Starting in the mid-’80s, the couple and their three children had lived across the street. When the property went on the market, Clayton first considered buying it and converting the barn into an artist’s studio for himself. Internationally renowned, his sculptures and paintings are in private and corporate collections throughout the world, including South America and Japan. Locally, you can find Bright’s life-size, bronze Jersey cow on display at that Brandywine River Museum.

The property’s main selling point—the view of an 80-acre valley—was also the primary reason it wasn’t selling. The land was subject to a conservation easement and the seller refused to entertain any buyer with plans to build on the hill or in the valley. Another turn-off was living so close to the road.

For his part, Bright considered neither a detriment. He would abide by the seller’s rules. Then he got to thinking that the property was better suited to be a home than a workspace.

“The aftermarket on a studio in Chester County wouldn’t be lucrative,” says Bright. “It had to be designed as a home anyway, so why not live there and take advantage of the tremendous views?”

Though they purchased the property in the mid-’90s, the Brights waited until 2002 to start construction. That gave Bright and his wife plenty of time to identify what they really wanted and research various designs. First and foremost, the new home had to fit their lifestyle. From early on, Bright had a general plan. “I knew I was going to put a structure in between the schoolhouse and the barn,” he says.

A fan of Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Farnsworth House in Illinois and Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut, Bright was certain he wanted plenty of floor-to-ceiling glass. To take full advantage of the stunning natural surroundings, it made perfect sense.
 

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