Banyan Hill: North Branch, NY

About The Property

This exceptional architect-designed contemporary is an exercise in great design matched with quality materials, to maximize light, views, comfort and convenience. Able to accommodate a houseful of guests with ease, the 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath home has plenty of bright spaces for gathering, and cozy spots for more intimate time, and enjoys an enhanced outdoor experience with the recent addition of a swimming pool. The layout of the house also allows for the owner’s privacy.

Central to the design is the “conversation pit”, a sunken living area with built-in wraparound seating and a large blue stone fireplace, just made for convivial late-night conversation where no one wants to go to bed. Three wings radiate from that space. The games room leads to a separate wing with two guest bedrooms, each en suite with modern bathrooms. That wing has glass doors that open up to one of a series of patios that skirt the entire rear of the house, and embrace an exterior fire pit, which takes the best of Catskills evenings spent outdoors and gives it a wallop of panache.

On the other side of the “conversation pit” are the sleek, open plan kitchen and glass-enclosed dining room. A walk-in pantry with ample storage makes it easy to keep the countertops tidy. And the dining room, with two sets of large French sliding doors, can be transformed into a virtual screened room.

The third wing, with its independent one bedroom, one bath apartment is, accessed either via a separate ground-level entrance, or the library bridge. That connecting breezeway has been built-in bookshelves and is lined with windows, that connects the two structures at the second floor. The driveway passes below to a parking area and the two car garage in back. The apartment is suitable for long-term guests or a caretaker, with its kitchenette, lounge and en suite bedroom.

An elegant oak staircase leads from the main floor to the master suite and a roomy open area well-suited to an office space. A barn-style sliding door opens to reveal a spacious bedroom flooded with light from the wall of glass bi-fold doors that open wide onto a balcony, serving up jaw-dropping views of the rear meadow and out at the farms and hills in the distance. The wall behind the bed conceals the dressing area, fitted out with built-in drawers, shelves and hanging areas. The large master bath features vintage clawfoot tub across from a modern, tiled open shower.

Another oak staircase leads down to the finished basement, where built-ins with a hammered-finish sink could provide handy access to beverages and snacks while residents enjoying the spacious wall-to-wall carpeted area that currently serves as a home theater, but could just as easily be a spacious gym. There is a professional grade projector which casts a 7’ x 12’ HD image, great for kids’ movies or sporting events. One room has been partially-completed as a wine cellar. The utility closet is well laid-out and immaculate, for easy access to the house’s systems.

With 20 private acres of lawns and meadows bordered by scenic stone walls, and peaceful woodland, the grounds at Banyan Hill offer boundless opportunity for year-round play and country rambles. The heated fifty foot saline swimming/lap pool is sited to take in the exceptional views of rolling hills and farmland for which this part of the Catskills is renowned.

Banyan Hill has been built to an incredibly high standard, including over 100 Loewen movable and fixed windows. Not only are all the lights on dimmers, but they can be programmed to the owner’s liking and all the lights in the house can be adjusted with the switch of a button from the control panel. Radiant floor heat throughout means toasty toes year-round, and there are control panels in most rooms for the house-wide sound system. And of course there is WiFi throughout.

The private driveway lazily climbs through the woods, opening to meadow views, and the striking contemporary facade of glass, stone and wood. The truly spectacular views can be enjoyed from many rooms in the house, particularly from the master bedroom. Banyan Hill is in farm country, among the scenic rolling hills of North Branch (part of Callicoon), a small, charming hamlet near the Delaware River, at the edge of the Catskill Park, where barns and silos dot the landscape.

Listing Broker: Jennifer Grimes