Photography by Peter Vanderwarker This Second Empire house is a narrative woven about its circulation. At the street, a quietly fanciful stoop reaches to greet one's arrival. Inside and out, Victorian details are playfully reinterpreted and celebrated in fabulous and whimsical spaces for a growing family - Double story kitchen with open cylindrical breakfast room Parents' and Children's libraries Secret playspaces Top floor sky-lit courtyard Writing room and hidden library Basement parking Media Room Landscape of exterior rooms: The site is conceived as a string of rooms: a landscaped drive-way court, a lawn for play, a sunken court, a serene shade garden, a New England flower garden. The stair grows out of the garden level ordering the surrounding rooms as it rises to a light filled courtyard at the Master suite on the top floor. On each level the rooms are arranged in a circuit around the stair core, making a series of distinct suites for the children, for the parents, and for their common activities.