Birge Residence

The Birge house is the only house with a living room that has a view to the Common. The site was originally the Gregorys’ tennis court, and during construction pieces of asphalt had to be removed while excavating for foundations and future planting. Entered over a bridge from Greenwood Terrace, the two-story Birge residence is a wood-frame, rectangular box lifted on steel pipe columns, with additional support provided by concrete-block walls that enclose the mechanical and storage spaces. For the Birge house Olsen balances his preferred hard-edged vocabulary with the softer, more natural, regional aesthetic preferred by Wurster and the residents of the Common.

Landscape Architect Burton Litton designed a simple garden with planted and open areas screened from the Common by shrubs. In 1973, most of the south garden was displaced by a swimming pool.