Rick’s parents, Dick and Peggy Kinnaird, built this house as their retirement home.
When they bought the property in the early 1970s, there was a small cabin on the property. They hired Craig Saunders, an architect from Hartford, Connecticut, to design a larger more energy efficient home. Parts of the original cabin can be seen behind the Blue Room where “the old kitchen” remains. Its foundation can be seen in the basement as well.
Dick originally planned to have eco-friendly toilets by Clivus Multrum, which were designed to convert the waste into loam. Unfortunately, the installers had never seen such devices and installed the heating elements upside down. This meant they were on all the time and they overheated and burned the inside of the house out completely. Before Dick and Peggy ever moved in, they had to start all over again.
Sometimes Dick would run into the contractor and the fellow would quote the measurement of a particular opening somewhere in the house. Dick would ask how he remembered it so precisely and he said, “Well Dick, It’s not often that you get to build the same house twice in the same place.”
When the house became too much for Rick’s parents, they moved to Blue Hill and the house was handed down to Rick who, in turn, will hand it down to his two children. To help with expenses and to let others enjoy the house and its spectacular views, he rents it out from April or May through November.