While she may have long since moved on, a wonderfully eccentric Erwinna home still very much reflects its former celebrity owner.
 

 By Laura Matson Hahn  
Photos by John Armich

Every house has its own voice, a distinct sound and feel, not unlike human beings. Driving to the upriver home of Victoria and John Dorn in serene Erwinna, I expected to hear a soft whinny from their converted horse barn, with maybe a country twang. But instead a massive boulder greeted me — Stonehenge-size. It guarded the front path along with a glorious three-story, multi-colored stone chimney with a hand-carved Buddha that smiled down from the top. I suppose they provide a clue for what’s to come and how different life could look and be behind the 12-foot, fortress-like, curved double front doors. But it’s more helpful to know that the originator of the home was a former national talk show host with a famous signature look of red-framed eyeglasses. And if those walls could talk, oh, would they be spilling all the juicy tidbits about the not-to-be-missed-parties and the fabulous people who once hob-knobbed with Sally Jessy Raphael in her custom-designed fantasy retreat.

This is not your ordinary barn conversion. Not by a long shot. The boulders placed throughout the property are just the tip of the iceberg — or Delhenge, as it might be named. For stone plays an important role inside this home’s design as well, along with many accoutrements for play, entertainment and joie de vivre and just as many for meditation, health and well-being. This is a house of contrasts and expression from many varied inspirations that still clearly reflects the divergent disparities of its creator, Raphael, who has long since moved on.

Lasting impressions
Its story began in 1987 as a severely dilapidated horse barn owned by the Stover family, who gave the town Erwinna its name. While new walls had to be built, the lines of the barn remained intact, along with its interior architectural armature. Stepping onto the slate foyer that overlooks the open-space floor plan, one’s eyes are immediately drawn up the original thick, tawny posts and scaling ladders that lead to the cross beams for the second and third stories and the dark, sloping wooden roof above it all. Then to the awe-inspiring, L-shaped stonewalls surrounding the fireplace and rising to the roofline. With hundreds of blue argillite, red shale and yellow sandstone rocks expertly cut, mixed and laid with a recessed mortar line, the walls look as if they were dry-laid. Above it all, another carved Buddha looks down with a laughing mouth, echoing the inscription on the headstone: “Everything in its time.”

 About nine years ago, Victoria and John found it for sale in an area real estate booklet and capped their two-year search for a spacious Bucks County weekend home. “Living in a New York loft, we loved the openness of it,”

Victoria says as we walk past the leather sofas flanking the fireplace and ample dining area, with a glass table for 12, and into the open, triangle-shaped kitchen with a center island perfectly positioned for entertaining. From the main floor, one can gaze upwards to the second- and third-floor balconies that connect the six bedrooms and out the numerous windows and glass doors to the back and side yards, where a patio, pool, mature trees and clusters of landscape boulders entice the eye and soothe the soul.

Cozy nooks and soaring ceilings
There is much to love about this house. For Victoria, it is the cozy, clubhouse-like library with a two-story bank of bookshelves and streaming light that spills through a window, skylight and opening to the second-story balcony. For John, it is the ample, well-lit wall space for his ever-growing art collection, including artists he sponsors, pieces they purchased during their travels and deeply personal treasures created by family members. 

Then there is the 10-person Roman bath Jacuzzi on the far side of the living room. It isn’t noticeable at first, but it reveals itself just beyond the dining table. The sunken, ancient green slate and stone bath begging for bacchanal delight is framed by a thick twist of driftwood that was rescued from the river. Most likely a branch of sycamore, elbowed, knotted and honed to a brilliant sheen. It also has a waterfall feature that provides glorious moisture throughout the house, banishing winter’s dry atmosphere.This is a home that begs to be touched, from the smooth, aged woods to the cool stones to the thick coats of black lacquer accenting the European-style cherry kitchen cabinets and the swath of galley wall units. And it is a home that reveals itself slowly with a large, sunny room beyond the kitchen, book-ended with glass and flanked by floor-to-ceiling storage cabinets. The Dorn family room, which opens to a fenced backyard play area for their two preschool-aged children, was once a white-carpeted meditation area.  

Nuanced nighttime retreats
This is also a house of pleasure and whimsy. Upstairs, each bedroom is unique. A curved stairwell leads to the third-floor balcony and a pair of bedrooms with sweet-framed windows and lush, private baths tucked under the eaves, equipped with Jacuzzi tubs, bidets, lacquered knotty pine and splashes of colorful tile. Three of the four bedrooms on the second floor have their own signature styles, such as the “Red Room,” with a red stockmarket ticker line arcing and diving around the black-tile walls of the bath.  

The master bedroom, also located on the second floor, opens to a grand sitting area complete with a beehive stone fireplace where the Dorns spend most of their evenings reading and nurturing their new kittens. It is separated from the actual bedroom by a large, keyhole-shaped wall cutout that demarks the inner sanctuary. Overlooking the private woods behind the house, the room is lined with windows and electronically-controlled skylights that fill the area with light, encouraging one to appreciate the settings both inside and out.

The master bath is highlighted by a large black Jacuzzi that sits on an elevated platform, all of which is anchored by a soaring stone wall that serves as the backdrop for a vanity on the other side. The sink, with its hand-carved circular channels for lyrically draining water would make Wilma Flintstone weep with joy. The room is completed with a steam shower, a toilet room with a rare, wooden sink and a large dressing room lined with mirrored closets.

Only steps away from the Delaware River, this property is serenely quiet and private with all the comforts one could seek in a setting that is both ancient and modern. Even the amoeba-shaped swimming pool falls in line with the Delhenge concept, with a stack of boulders by the deep end providing a natural diving platform. And, an impossible-to-overlook quality these days: The house sits above the flood plane. 

But while the Dorns have deeply loved their time in this home and made full use of its nuances, it is time for them to move on for the sake of their children, who need a neighborhood of friends. “This is a house for adults who can fully enjoy its sophisticated pleasures,” John says, which is followed by a deep sigh, intimating he will surely miss the quirky dreamscape envisioned through red-framed eyeglasses so many years ago. • 

1. I wonder what the value is of such a home before the conversion and after?

   Posted by Little House Company | April 18, 2009, 3:32 am

2. Building a horse barn can be tricky, so make sure you follow the barn instructions perfectly, or go to a horse barn company like Castlebrook Barns - Barns

   Posted by Marcus Gee | May 12, 2009, 10:54 am