Property of Mr. and Mrs. George Mesberg, Westchester County, New York | architect: David D. Henken

11/20/2025 08:24:00 AM

A wooded background screens this lakeside weekend house in deceptive seclusion. Viewed from the lake, it appears to be miles from civilization, but it is scarcely 80 yards from the main house of its owners, Mr. and Mrs. George Mesberg, in New York's populous Westchester County. The Mesbergs built their main house and this guest house at the same time, and they like to think of them as an entity. But for several reasons they decided to make the guest quarters a separate unit, rather than a wing of the main house. Since the smaller house stands at the very edge of the lake, Mr. Mesberg can fish for bass from the terrace, and the family can swim off the boat dock. The lake view makes the house a pleasant place for entertaining, and adroit planning insures privacy for guests when they wish it. The unusual triangular shape has maxi- mum exposure to the lake setting for each of the three rooms- kitchen, living room and bedroom-without squandering space. The long solid rear wall is economically used for kitchen work units, the bathroom and a large bedroom closet. With its cantilevered sun deck running along two sides of the living room and jutting out over the edge of the lake, the guest house brings the Mesberg family as close to nature as is architecturally possible.