Ashley River Residence

The oaks were there first, and the house works around them. Designed by Crosby Creations and set on the marshes of the Ashley River, it sits back behind the critical line with the live oaks left standing where they stood, one of them leaning out over the pool toward the water. From the driveway you can see straight through the glass front door and out to the river on the far side.

The back of the house opens completely. A wall of glass slides away and the family room becomes the pool deck, marsh running out to the river past the columns, the tide rewriting the view every few hours. Under the rear porch there is a fireplace and a kitchen, so for most of the year the living happens out there.

A geometric moulding wall climbs two full stories, white oak barn doors set into it. The primary shower is lined floor to ceiling in reeded tile and plumbed for steam. The stair floats. Across the breezeway, the garage carries a full apartment above it, two bedrooms and a kitchen, for the family that comes and stays a while.

Everything sits above the flood line on a raised slab, sealed with spray foam, clad in fiber cement, capped in metal and shingle. The critical line buffer was left intact, which is the part that matters most: the marsh edge and the oaks are what the house was built for, and they will outlast every other decision in it.