Brent Buck’s 4,400-Square-Foot Millerton House on 20 Acres

By Elena Vasquez

Brent Buck’s 4,400-square-foot house in Millerton, New York, sits on a 20-acre property with six bedrooms and views toward the Catskill Mountains. Whit Bernard and Freya Zaheer, a Brooklyn-based couple with three young sons, planned the property as a weekend retreat for themselves, their guests and their extended family.

How did the house meet the land?

Buck first met Bernard and Zaheer in a cornfield, wearing a flannel shirt. The couple sought his opinion before buying the Millerton property. Their Sunday encounter turned on first impressions.

Buck described the effect as his “upstate dad” look. Bernard said: “We thought Brent was this low-key local talent. We had no idea he was this rising star from the city.”

A Connecticut-based friend whose house Buck had designed referred the couple to him. Bernard and Zaheer hired Buck without interviewing anyone else.

Buck and his young family divide their time between Litchfield County and Brooklyn. He founded his studio in 2018 after a decade at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and eight years later his eight-person practice had built a name renovating Brooklyn town houses. The team also works on several new ground-up residential projects.

The site’s peak offered an obvious building site and spectacular views of the Catskill Mountains. Frank Lloyd Wright offered a design principle: “Hill and house should live together, each the happier for the other.” Buck said: “We wanted to make the home feel like it was coming out of the land, not set right on the ridgeline.”

The clients wanted “something appropriate to the place.” Buck answered with a barnlike gabled structure.

Buck tucked the house into the terrain. It presents as a single story from the front and descends to a lower level. A sweeping great room and all six bedrooms look across the landscape. The upper floor holds three bedrooms, and three more sit downstairs.

The sunken plan makes the land the house’s defining feature, rather than a view placed outside its walls.

What gives the interior its character?

Materials take their cues from agrarian architecture. Exposed Douglas fir beams, reclaimed barn siding and hand-laid local fieldstone masonry shape the house. Broad windows, strategic skylights and deep overhangs frame the landscape, moderate weather exposure and keep the interior light and warm throughout the home’s connected rooms.

The furnishings remain spare, which gives craft a distinct presence. A custom walnut table anchors the dining area. An Isamu Noguchi pendant marks the stairwell. Wood defines the upper floor. Downstairs, Buck created a more monastic experience, with arched hallways clad in Roman Clay from Portola Paints.

Bernard and Zaheer layered colorful Malkha textiles from India alongside antiques collected during travels in Asia and Europe. Zaheer said the palette remains in “tonal alignment with the environment.” The restrained shell lets textiles, antiques and crafted objects register without overwhelming the setting.

How does the retreat accommodate family and guests?

Bernard and Zaheer now host friends and extended family regularly. They expand sleeping capacity with tents on the grounds, designed by the landscape studio Eponymous Practice. A swimming pool, firepit and wraparound deck support indoor-outdoor living, while the three sons fly kites, play hide-and-seek among cornstalks and spend time scouting for fossils.

Despite that activity, the house’s meticulous design makes it a calm sanctuary. Bernard said: “There’s this understated beauty. It’s a great place to just sit, stare at the view, and relax a little bit.” The family’s regular gatherings will now test whether the retreat can preserve that calm as more visitors use the grounds and tents.