New York Spaces (July - August 2011) "Quiet Time : Architect Harry Elson builds a modern American farmhouse on a former Shelter Island potato field" by Marjorie E. Gage "When this house was just in the 'dream stages,' I used to ride my bicycle around Shelter Island, searching for the perfect spot to build," says architect Harry Elson. "And one morning in July 2001, I spotted a FOR SALE sign and knew I had found it." Part of an old estate, the two-acre plot Elson set his heart on was in actuality a long-fallow potato field, overgrown and barely penetrable without a machine. "But I had already consulted the tax maps and studied the configurations for all the properties on the island, so I knew exactly what was behind the weeds, and I was ready to begin." Using an antique Linden tree at the roadside as his landmark, Elson installed a 200-foot-long gravel drive lined with Eastern red cedar trees, creating a pastoral entry to an artificial half-acre precinct of serenity in the middle of the natural chaos. "The Colonists settled Williamsburg this way,: Elson says. "There is a long tradition of creating order in the wild." The house Elson designed and built also has roots in the iconic 18th-century American ideal: a straightforward, highly efficient rectangle clad in shiplap wooden siding, with windows looking out onto the landscape. "The house itself is 4,500-square-feet, but we use the whole 25,000-square-feet of the half-acre precinct to live in," Elson explains. "The evergreen gardens, grassy areas, and pool - which we placed at the front of the house, to take advantage of the sun - are outdoor rooms, surrounded by a 'wall' of 192 arborvitae trees." Elson and his wife, Lisa, a Rhode Island School of Design-trained graphic designer, approached the decoration of the interior with the same combination of practicality and painstaking attention to detail. "The concept for the house reflects Venturi's 'decorated shed," says Elson. "We didn't set out to build a 'minimalist' house or a 'modern' house or an 'all-white' house. What we wanted was a timeless weekend house, with a personal point of view, that would suit the site and our family. For Shelter Island - and for the way we live - this house makes sense."