Property of Mr. Gustav Wally, Upper Nyack, N.Y. | Architect: Henry Hebbeln

A forty-five-minute drive from the heart of New York City brings you to Upper Nyack, N. Y., where woods and rolling hills climb high above the broad blue Hudson River. There Gustav Wally, a Swedish businessman who spends part of the year in New York, decided to build his weekend retreat. In this thickly wooded setting, privacy was no problem, for there were no near neighbors, and the surrounding hills are reserved as natural parklands. The challenge in this case was to preserve the natural beauty of the site, and to take full advantage of it. Landscape designer James Rose coaxed the wild woods into a comfortable setting for the house and for people. Yet he was so careful to preserve the trees that he even left a graceful elm to emerge from the middle of the sundeck. 

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Behind the house, he built a round swimming pool which fits into the landscape so easily that deer often mistake it for a water hole. To disturb the ground as little as possible, architect Henry Hebbeln raised the house on low piles. Burnished woods and rugged stonework link it with the outdoors, and one whole wall of sliding glass panels unites the indoor and outdoor living areas. At one end, the glass wall opens to a broad deck overlooking the river; the other end looks out on a sunny lawn. From the other side of the house there is a spectacular view of High Tor. The one-room interior, like that of architect Shaw's house, is dominated by a huge fireplace. But Mr. Wally's furnishings were purposely chosen to create a rich contrast with the outside greenery a contrast that makes the outdoors all the more pleasurable.

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source: House and Garden Magazine | June 1961