A near-invisible multimillion-dollar glass home
Behold the Taghkanic House, presiding over a gentleman’s farm in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley, a two-hour drive from New York City. The most visible part of this largely invisible contemporary home consists of an 1,800-square-foot glass pavilion. Glass houses always raise questions of privacy. However, in this case such practical concerns are addressed so that the majority of the home's living space consists of hidden subterranean chambers.
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The 8,800-square-foot home has six bedrooms, six full and three partial bathrooms. It has an asking price of either $6.75 million for 200 acres of protected property, or $8.25 million for an additional 150 acres and a three-bedroom renovated farmhouse. The listing is held by Heather Croner Real Estate and Sotheby’s International Realty.
This minimalist habitation of glass and white-painted steel was built in 2001 as the first major project by architect Tom Phifer. The architect is known for his facility with light, as exemplified in the sun-filled, sky-lighted galleries he designed for the North Carolina Museum of Art.
The glass rectangular shapes seen in the sod here are skylights for Taghkanic House's underground spaces.
The above-ground glass living area allows 360-degree views of the surrounding Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains. Phifer designed another glass structure, Fishers Island House, for a client who wanted to sit in his house and look at his garden and his art at the same time, according to Dwell magazine.
Taghkanic owner Moyra Mulholland, a makeup artist in the entertainment industry, told an Albany publication that the idea of a glass house didn't sit well with her due to her fear of thunderstorms. Thus, Phifer refers to this area as the "celebratory space," while the subterranean space helps Mullholland feel protected.
The substructure nestled into the gently sloping hillside is 7,000 square feet and includes the bedrooms, kitchen, media room, wine cellar and a refrigerated cheese room.
