Name: Windle Davis and Dini Lamot, Innkeepers
Location: The Inn at Hudson in Hudson, New York
Size: 8,000 square feet
Type: 1905 8-bedroom Dutch and Jacobean house by Albany architect Marcus T. Reynolds
Years lived in: 4
"Style follows function" isn't exactly what comes to mind when you first lay your eyes on the lovingly-restored Hudson, New York home of former rockers Windle and Dini. But on closer look, function greets you at the front door. Literally. The turn-of-the-century mansion is organized around a central grand entrance hall, allowing peripheral bedrooms and living spaces lots of natural light. The house was even designed with heated floors and a spring-fed ventilation system for cooling the entire house. But while function may have come first in this ahead-of-its time design, style is certainly right on its heels.
Windle and Dini worked within the ornate bones of the house — much of which they restored themselves — to create a surprisingly modern dwelling for themselves and their guests. As Windle sums it up, the couple's approach is "low on the doily factor". Their modern and contemporary art collection coexists with original Art Nouveau embellishments, intricate woodwork, and plaster moldings. In the bedrooms, antique beds are dressed with all white, 100% cotton, line-dried linens. Juxtapositions like these allow full appreciation for the beauty of the house's past while enabling simple yet elegant livability in the present.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our style: We met in the midst of a dizzy and fertile artistic scene in Boston in the 1970s, and during that time acquired a number of brilliant modern works by such artists and colleagues as Nan Golden, Pablo Hurtato, Mark Morrisroe and Jack Pierson. Combining them at home with inherited family pieces (ranging from Early American to Ancient Chinese) helped us develop a look that doesn’t conform to any particular style, but feels right for us, and apparently pleases our guests.
Inspiration: We find inspiration not only in the stimulating challenge of harmonizing diverse art pieces and décor , but also in the structure and architectural details of the various homes we’ve restored and decorated — in locations ranging from Key West to Los Angeles to rural Vermont. Our home in Hudson has been the richest, the most challenging, and the most rewarding in this respect.
Favorite Element: The 42 stained glass windows by Rose Valley founder and architect William Lightfoot Price.
Biggest Challenge: Repairing the frozen plumbing to all seven bathrooms and then restoring those bathrooms.
What Friends Say: Can I move in?
Biggest Embarrassment: The hole still awaiting restoration in the very ornate coffered ceiling of a burled walnut oval dining room.
Proudest DIY: On a scaffold, scraping the banana yellow paint off of 38 painted canvases in the front hall ceiling.
Biggest Indulgence: Individual climate control devices for each bedroom.
Best advice: While visiting our puppeteer friend Caleb Fullam during his final days, we asked whether we should take on this extraordinary house. He answered: "Think of the adventure."
Dream source: Hudson River School painter Fredric Church's home, Olana, located just down the road.
Resources of Note:
• Stair Galleries Auction House, Hudson
• Skinner Auction House, Boston
• Marx Home, Hudson
• flea market finds
Related Post: Memorable Artwork: Buffalo Print by Valerie Shaff
Thanks, Windle and Dini!
Images: ©Peter Aaron /Esto
• HOUSE TOUR ARCHIVE Check out past house tours here
• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour Submission Form.
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Wow, absolutely stunning.
Though not at all my personal style, I can very much appreciate what Windle and Dini have done here.
And though many will surely question the relevance of this 8,000 square foot house to small apartment living, anyone with an open and creative mind can garner some great ideas from this post that would be applicable to apartment living.
Stunning, wonderful.
Gorgeous! And quite a project to undertake. I'd be curious how much sweat equity W & D have in this house as well as how much it cost to complete the restoration?
The use of art is very creative (love that bathroom pic!) and I am in awe of the entry hall (especially the ceiling).
The pic of the bedroom...maybe it's the angle but the couch seems way too close to the bed. I'd use an upholstered chair to give more space and flow here.
Absolutely impressive.
Very inspirational, i wish there were more pictures, 13 is not enough, i feel that there is more to this house to see.
Oh wow, that's so beautiful. I don't usually like dark wood, but it looks great here. And the bedroom is gorgeous! It's old fashioned like it belongs in that time period, but not in the tacky way many B&B's are. It's elegant and even modern. I would totally stay there!
hollllllllly shit
Matters not to me about the title and "mission statement" of this blog, I am awestruck by this place and the elaborate wood. Thank you so much for the "peek". I consider it a laughable tease that you show so many close ups of the stained glass. Of course they are nice, but we want to see more of the house PLEASE!!!
The only thing inspirational and really lovely is the white bedroom and bathroom. The rest is over the top wood with green walls, which I think ads to a dated look, not in the best way.
And 4 photos for glass windows... I would rather see other interior details. It's not even as though the glass windows were that special.
I had the pleasure of staying there. Its beautiful and so very Hudson charming and the details are exquisite. This is in a rich historical area that is over the top charming and beautiful. I would take a place like this over a W hotel any day.
Oh rich people, how I envy you!
Can you really criticize a historically-appropriate renovation for looking "dated"? I think looking period-appropriate ("dated" as some might say) is the whole point. Sheesh.
Agreed with slowdown. Please keep comments respectful--especially since the owners are kind enough to share. I too, would love to see more of the house. It's absolutely gorgeous and inspirational and I think it would be wonderful to stay there. Like FengShuiByFishgirl, I am also curious as to how much needed to be restored (perhaps some "before" photo's?).
Great Gawd Awmighty, that's a beautiful house.
*stares*
And it's an inn, you say? Like, I could stare there?
*checks bank account*
rosenatti,
It *is* an inn! I checked out the link above, http://www.theinnathudson.com , and most rooms are around $200 for the first night, and about $100 for additional nights.
PS - more pictures are available through the link, too.
@AlmostAD -- Totally affordable! I'll meet you there.
Thorndale. I can appreciate historical relevance and different styles, but will stand by my comment. The green and wood simply doesn't work for me and am simply not awe struck by the rooms, except like I said, the white one. Has nothing to do with an open mind, just because I don't have the same opinion as most of these comments.
You can dislike the place and say why, but calling it "dated" is absurd. The equivalent would be me looking at the Aalto house and saying it's too modern and thus, isn't that great.
My husband and I have stayed here in the white room and the pink room (see their website) and it's a magical place -- the back garden is perfect and Dini and Windle are the best hosts in the universe (amazing breakfasts! adorable dog!). And the whole house is stunning and has been restored and decorated with much love and creativity while honoring its historic roots. If you're anywhere in the area, I really recommend it.
My husband and I stayed there last winter for New Year's eve and it was just a WONDERFUL time.They are great people and so creative. Dini gave us a tour and even showed us some of his videos ( as we are performers too)! We have been wanting to go back but just have not done it yet. They said in the spring the yard is teeming with gorgeous flowers that Windle plants and maintains but it was quite snowy in Hudson when we were there so it was a winter wonderland. We stayed in the Green room which was huge and lovely and had a magnificent bathroom. Dini's breakfasts were superb. Their dog was adorable. Tons of great shopping and dining within walking distance too.Warm community. Go visit!
"Dated"?? Hilarious. I'm waiting for someone to suggest painting the woodwork glossy white.
It's a gorgeous inn, and I'm glad to know about it. Hope to stay there someday.