Houzz Tour: Just What Mom Wanted, Off the Washington Coast
For many architects, figuring out exactly what a client wants is a good chunk of the battle. But that wasn’t the case for Gary Gladwish and his latest client: his own mother. “I know what she likes and doesn’t like,” he says of Marie Gladwish, a retired graphic artist. “It makes it a lot easier to determine what kind of spaces, feel and materials she’s looking for in a house. Sometimes clients aren’t clear on that.”
Using this knowledge he designed a house from salvaged materials that’s perched on a steep cliffside and celebrates the surrounding forest, moss-covered rocks and ocean — all things that inspire his mom’s artwork, which can be found throughout the house.
Of course, Gladwish says, the process wasn’t always easy-breezy. But he had an advantage in moving the project along when things seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace. “We would have been in the schematic design phase for 20 years,” he says. “I put my foot down and said, ‘This is what you’re getting,’ and came up with what she’d like and in her budget. And she loves it.”
The project was actually decades in the making. Marie had fallen in love with the island when she was 17 during a boat trip with her father through the San Juan Islands. She decided then that she’d live there one day. She made her way back to the island 49 years later, scooped up a piece of land and spent 10 years thinking about what to do with it.
The land is picturesquely rugged: Vibrant green moss and evergreen trees cover rocky hills and cliffs that tower over dark waters. Access to the island is by ferry, seaplane or private boat. There are a few small towns with shops, but it’s mostly cabins and small vacation homes.
The home Gladwish designed is perched on a hillside that drops 900 feet down to the water.
Marie had a big say in the materials, many of which were salvaged from junkyards or found on Craigslist. The wood siding is from a 100-year-old barn in eastern Washington that Gladwish found on Craigslist for “a pittance,” he says. “They don’t have a problem with bugs in that area, but it did take a lot of pressure washing to get all the cow dung off. But that gave it a nice, rustic look.”
Some people mistake the home as being built from a shipping container, but in fact it’s corrugated Cor-Ten siding with a pattern called Western Rib, which is similar to that of shipping containers. It was chosen for its low maintenance — it doesn’t require painting, and the rust gives it a patina that also protects it from the elements.
Gladwish also selected the material for its aesthetic value. The reddish-brown color matches tones found in the surrounding rocks, tree bark and moss.
The roof channels stormwater into a retention pond to help manage erosion on the rocky cliffside.
Quio, Gladwish’s black Lab–border collie mix, sits atop the rocky terrain.
More about the House Off the Washington Coast
Houzz Tour: Just What Mom Wanted, Off the Washington Coast
