Casacquasanta
Westfield, NJ · Custom New Construction
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The Home
A 5,000-square-foot custom home built new on a 175-by-100-foot pie-shaped lot in Westfield, among older houses in one of the town's historically significant neighborhoods. That part of Westfield holds a lot of Tudors, which set the brief: blend in, but look more modern. A large program had to be fitted into a small zoning block.
Client Goal
The homeowners wanted a “Spanifornia” house — California-inspired ease and Spanish-influenced architecture, detailed in a modern way but built from warm traditional materials. They are passionate about cooking and hosting, so entertaining was central to the program rather than an afterthought, and the house had to suit a young, active family.
Solution
A collaboration between the homeowners, the project architect, Ellie Mroz Design and MRC, with construction, design intent, selections and architectural detail coordinated from the earliest stages. As the architect puts it, “you don't start with a style; you end with one” — the clients did not want stucco, so cedar trim and brick produced a California Modern feel with clean lines, minimal detail and a great deal of glass.
Construction
The stairwell was deliberately pulled off to one side, next to the mudroom and secondary entry, instead of the center hall the owners did not want — which let every sight line in the house end at a window or some other source of daylight. From the front entry there is a clear view through the family room into the backyard; off the secondary entry a long hallway carries repeating arches straight through to a window at the far end. The staircase sits in a tower bounded by two walls of windows. The covered porch has no corner columns, so the chimney holds up the roof and the views stay open. Rooms were sized deliberately small — the living room 17 by 20, the kitchen 16 by 18, the breakfast room 12 by 16 — and the open plan makes them read larger than they measure.
Design
Every material is natural and chosen to patina: the cedar will turn silvery-gray, and the painted brick — planned from the start, and rarely seen — adds depth, texture and shadow lines that tie the exterior together as Old World but updated. Oversized windows carry custom cedar shutters built large enough to actually cover them, the way shutters did on older houses, and the window and door frames are black for an industrial edge. Inside, the interiors answer the exterior: a little old with a little new, furnished in time-tested natural textiles — cotton, linen, jute, wool — in neutrals, nothing bright or abrasive, everything collected and genuinely family-friendly. The design began at the kitchen, because it is central and takes the bulk of the budget.
Result
The pub is the clearest proof the plan works. It was a wish-list item, and the risk with a wish-list room is that it goes unused — so it was planned to connect the wine room, the family room and the covered pergola, putting it on the way to everywhere. It has a 14-foot ceiling in antiqued tin, a hand-painted mural, rich marbles, a herringbone floor with an ebony border and an arched window, modeled on Le Coucou in Manhattan. It is also a working bar: the window wall was built doubly thick for a recessed nook of industrial shelving for glassware, with an industrial beer fridge and a full workstation and sink. Lit at night, the stair tower is visible from the street.