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An old rancher filled with memories gets new life as a fully modern cottage—with all the touches that made it special.
(page 1 of 2)
Winnie Kee was reared in a rambling rancher in Henlopen Acres, a house known for its distinctive red painted cedar shake exterior—and for an interior replete with cherished antiques, Colonial-style details and walls paneled in pecky cypress.
“We had wonderful parents, and it was a wonderful place,” she recalls. “When my mom died, I couldn’t stand the thought of the house being sold outside the family, knowing it would probably be torn down.”
So Kee, now with kids of her own, came home. Thanks to her loving renovation, the house has grown up, too, transformed from a dark, cozy rancher into an airy, expansive cottage well suited to the latest generation to live in the historic sylvan enclave.
The smallest incorporated town in Delaware, Henlopen Acres is home to 139 souls, according to the latest census. The 156-acre community was established in 1930 by Col. Wilbur S. Corkran, who developed farmland into a “residential development where quiet-loving, cultured people may live in a country seaside community amid conditions which make for health, comfort and refined pleasure.”
Kee’s mother built a house and guest quarters there, moving in as a bride and staying on as a young widow. Her second husband was Jacob Reese White, who ran Houston-White Co., a lumber mill in Millsboro.
“As it turned out, my dad was already familiar with the house,” Kee says. “He had gone down to Georgia and had hand chosen every piece of pecky cypress when the house was built in 1948.”
Pecky cypress occurs when the tree is attacked by fungus, which creates lens-shaped pockets throughout the wood. When the wood is milled for paneling, it yields a prized, three-dimensional look unlike any other species.
During the renovation, workers painstakingly removed the wood, installed insulation, then replaced the panels. In the dramatic, room-size foyer, the pecky cypress was covered with sheetrock for a smooth surface. But the wood was retained beneath.
“So if we ever want to go back to the original, it’s there,” Kee says.
To take the house full circle, she turned to longtime builder Ron Coffin of Lewes, whose family had worked on the original home.
“Ronnie understood the house and I trusted him completely, knowing he was the ideal person for the job,” she says.
To get her creative juices flowing, she went to Cape May and looked at buildings, soaking up centuries of architecture.
The ultimate design cue for the cottage didn’t come from the historic town’s iconic Victorian homes. Kee’s wave of inspiration flowed from the circular porthole windows in the cupola atop the U.S. Coast Guard station.
Moonlight Architecture of Lewes came up with a design to expand the 3,500-square-foot rancher into a two-story cottage that includes the porthole windows, as well as vaulted and coffered ceilings, seamed copper accent roofs and a garage. (To stay under the 6,000 square feet maximum mandated by code, Kee gave up an existing carport. The final amount of space under the roof: 5,993 square feet.)
Page 2: Full Circle continues...
