Yearning to escape the urban bustle of Washington, D.C., the homeowners of the 2025 Project of the Year found refuge in the hills and rolling pastures of Etlan, Viriginia.  

A winding country road with miles of cattle fencing leads to the 1,732 square foot project that’s inspired by the agrarian structures that dot the area. On two acres, the Etlan Farm House’s expansive views and orientation capture exquisite views of Old Rag Mountain.  

Instilling innovation in attainability, architect Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, was asked to design the project as an inexpensive house for his clients to live in while they built a larger project nearby. Gurney sketched the home over Christmas break and presented it to them. They were sold.   

“The project came in at a very good value, and we were able to build it relatively quickly in about seven or eight months, which is fast for a custom house,” Gurney says. The home was built by Fajen and Brown and United Structural Engineers and Campion Hruby Landscape Architects rounded out the team.  

Etlan Farm House, which was designed in response to the vernacular farmhouses and the area’s many red barns, now serves as a landing spot for the owners’ family and guests—and a landmark for the area.  

“It has become kind of like a mile marker. ‘Oh, it’s past the red house.’ Everyone sort of knows the house now and it’s funny but also really rewarding that you can do sort of a small, inexpensive house that has a lot of impact on both the landscape and the community at large,” he says. 

Three Peaks 

As an assemblage of three volumes dividing the living, bedrooms, and carport, the simple forms of each gable roof complement the natural hillside setting. With minimal trim and no overhangs, the project team kept the structures economically friendly with painted clapboard siding, asphalt roof shingles, and corrugated metal siding.  

The living pavilion, which is designed as a singular open space, offers 14-foot-high ceilings, warm flooring, a fireplace, and a full-height window at the end to frame the mountain views. The living room window was the only custom window of the project, Gurney points out.  

The kitchen was designed as a ‘bump out’ to allow for wall cabinets and appliances to take up minimal space so that the island could sing on its own as a place to casually eat or entertain. 

“We pushed it the cabinets and appliances out of the wall of the building to make the space feel as open as possible from front to back. We didn’t want anything above the island as well. The result was an uninterrupted view through the whole space,” Gurney adds. 

A linear entry space connects the living pavilion to the bedroom pavilion where two guest rooms, a powder room, a guest bath, and the primary suite are housed.  

The narrow entry space also continues to the third gable where the carport is.  

The area also doubles as a sheltered outdoor terrace. A screen porch is tucked between the living and bedroom pavilions as an additional outdoor living space to take in the countryside.  

Caption: The Etlan Farm House was designed in response to the many red barns of the Virginia countryside.