Noughts and Crosses

The divine trinity seems to be a recurring motif in Gretchen Jones’s life upstate. Like a gingerbread house, her part-craftsman, part-postmodern abode with Memphis design twists is tucked away in a pocket of woods above the Hudson River. Winding wooden and stone paths—almost hidden through most of the year by a riot of bright purple flowers—lead to her three-story home clad in split shake shingles and topped with a steep gabled roof.

Tempting bites of Christian mysticism are everywhere. From the ecclesiastical pattern of three interconnected parts, representing the Christian trinity of father, son, and holy ghost, outside to the 3x3 rows of glass panes and 30 degree curved walls woven throughout her home’s interior, the divine rule of three prevails.  Ornate, generous eves are propped up by three curvy buttresses on the east and west sides of the home. On three faces, giant circular windows bisected by crosses add to the home’s fairy tale appeal and cast mystical shadows inside. Down the hill, a deconstructed trefoil becomes a pool and hot tub with billowy edges.

Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine