A raised earthen driveway, too long to shovel, snakes from an unpaved section of Lincoln Lane to an extraordinary house on the banks of the Sudbury River where it travels through Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. It’s a house made of steel, concrete, and planks of pine and oak harvested from the roughly four acre lot, a structure that is LEED certified.
The walls (panels of a vaguely gray steel sandwiched between high-density 5-inch foam commonly used for cold-storage facilities) are deployed here as a visual counterpoint to the refuge. An internal steel frame essentially created a massive living room in which homeowner William Churchill, a would-be architect with a passion for design, showcases a floating stairwell that evokes the work of graphic artist M.C. Escher or Hogwarts Castle. It’s a visual treat: The risers are thick slabs of blonde maple dovetailed with treads of rich-brown Brazilian cherry. There are two master suites: one on the first floor that meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards, the second on an upper level with a canoe-like tub and a separate shower.
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The home’s focal point, however, is the 25-foot-high living room, with its windows of varying geometric shapes, that wonderful staircase, and just as breathtaking, the neighbor-less view of the refuge. A high-efficiency propane system generates radiant heat through the concrete floors, supplemented by a 9,000-pound soapstone fireplace and a wall of gray slate that absorbs the heat of the winter sun pouring in from the wall of windows.
Softening the exposed metal — the I-beams look like crown molding — are long rectangles of lightly pickled native pine that hang over the modern kitchen and other spaces. The breakfast counter is a fluted plank of black walnut from California. Built amid wetlands, the home doesn’t have a basement, but there is deeded canoe access to the Sudbury River.
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Listing broker Karen Paradise of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Lincoln is holding an open house Sunday from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
Price: $1.45 million
Style: Contemporary
Built: 2009
Bedrooms: 4
Rooms: 9
Bathrooms: 3.5
Square feet: 3,813
Sewer: Private
Taxes: $16,506
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.