Former ore foundry renovated into stunning weekend home

The Clover Hill Foundry is a house with history. Originally built in the late 19th century, the interconnected brick buildings in Somers, New York, were first used as the hub for an ore mining operation. Later in the 1940s, three artists bought the dilapidated buildings, renovating them into standalone homes for their families. Today it’s home to Claire Benoist and Derek Kilner, a couple living in Brooklyn who were looking for a weekend escape outside the city.

When they purchased the foundry building in 2017, they brought on Ravi Raj, formerly an architect at Adjaye Associates, to transform the place into a rustic but modern retreat. Raj retained the best parts of the building’s original character—the thick brick walls, soaring ceilings, and wooden support trusses—and accentuated them with a coat of clean white paint that pops against the blackened wood floors.

The house opens onto a double-height living room, where a black wood burning stove soars dramatically to the ceiling. The marble-filled kitchen is tucked under the upstairs loft and flows into a window-clad dining area, which gives the home an urban-loft-in-a-farmhouse feel.

A platform near the entrance connects to a staircase that leads to the second floor, where there’s a bedroom and screening room. The ground floor also houses a bedroom, as does the lower level where there’s a guest room and master bedroom that connects to a wraparound terrace and the surrounding woods.