3 beach houses, 3 lifestyles - beach houses in Washington's Long Beach peninsula

Sunset, August, 1994 by Steven R. Lorton

These houses on Washington's Long Beach Peninsula look alike on the outside, but inside each is unique

THE THREE BEACH HOUSES PICTURED HERE LOOK AS IF they've been facing the Pacific Ocean for a century. But it was just four years ago that three families teamed up to build these houses on 8.5 acres of Washington's Long Beach Peninsula.

All three owners wanted two-story houses, each designed for year-round living, with two bedrooms and one full and one half-bath. They also wanted the houses to relate to one another and to the area's traditional Northwest beach architecture, but at the same time to reflect their very different tastes and lifestyles. Finally, and most important, they wanted the houses to make as little impact on the environment as possible.

Local architect David Jensen, who has a background in historic preservation, took on the project. He designed three dwellings, each about 1,000 square feet in size. He positioned the houses 60 feet apart, minimizing land usage but maximizing individual privacy, thanks to carefully sited living spaces and windows. All three houses sit on poured concrete foundations, and each is topped with a composition shingle roof.

On the first floor of each house, Jensen pushed ceilings a foot above standard to 9 feet, to make room for 8-foot-tall double-glazed windows that maximize solar gain, especially in winter when the Northwest sun is low on the horizon. Because of this emphasis on windows and skylights, Jensen used extra insulation in the walls and ceiling to increase energy efficiency. The houses have electric heat backed up by woodstoves. The second floor of each house has small bedrooms in various configurations.

In the north and south houses, walls are painted drywall trimmed in native fir, and the interiors have Craftsman detailing, particularly the banisters and newel posts. The middle house has painted woodwork and some beaded wainscoting. But generally, the same materials are used in all three houses. Building with common materials lowered construction costs and cut the number of slowdowns. "We bought in bulk," Jensen recalls, "and if we were short a 2-by-4 or piece of plywood on one project, we took it from the other. We were in continuous motion, never waiting for a worker to run and get something we needed."

NORTH HOUSE

The first-floor plan is divided into four quadrants: living area, entry and stairway, kitchen, and deck.

The chimney and woodstove, which is boxed in and clad with tile, act as a divider between the living and entry areas. These two areas seem larger than they are because they borrow visual space from one another, and from the glass windows and doors that open onto the deck. In warm weather, the living area and deck form one large indoor-outdoor room. The kitchen also overlooks the deck.

The deck is sheltered from the wind on the north and east sides by the house, and on the south by the middle house, 60 feet away. On the west side, the deck is open to sea breezes and the sights and sounds of the ocean.

MIDDLE HOUSE

"I want a traditional house with a twist." That was the owner's challenge to Jensen when he designed the middle house. So Jensen took a rectangular floor plan and gave it a 45 [degrees] shift within the exterior walls. The result is a first-floor interior oriented to the southwest and away from the neighboring houses.

Steel posts and beams form an interior framework, replacing interior bearing walls and creating an open floor plan. A custom-made steel staircase leads to the second floor.

For another twist on tradition, Jensen designed two triangular pop-outs that project from the east and west walls: one serves as an entry area and the other forms a cozy nook with a window seat.

SOUTH HOUSE

The first floor of this house is the most traditional of the three. The living area has the feel of an inglenook, with a woodstove along one wall, built-in shelving and cabinetry, and twin mission-style sofas. The stairway divides the living area from the kitchen and dining area. The 220-square-foot living area doesn't seem cramped even though a bedroom loft floats above it. The colors of walls, woodwork, and flooring are soft, simple, and natural. Recessed downlights in the ceiling supplement daylight that streams in from the windows.