SNOW in Every WINDOW

IN MONTANA'S EXCLUSIVE YELLOWSTONE CLUB, COMMUNE DELIVERS A WEST COAST GROOVE TO A HOME WITH PRISTINE VIEWS OF BIG SKY COUNTRY.

- AMANDA FORTINI

When Jennifer and Alec Litowitz first visited the scenic resort town of Big Sky, Montana, in 2019, they fell in love with a view: Nearly 9,000 feet up, at the top of Andesite Ridge in the private, gated Yellowstone Club, was a gently sloped piece of land that peered out over the breathtaking surrounding mountains. There was, however, one minor issue: Construction of a 10,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom limestone house was already underway on the site. So, the pair, who are Chicago-area private investors and philanthropists, decided to buy it. "If we wanted that view," Jennifer says, "this is how we were going to get it."

Jennifer, no stranger to complex custom projects - she oversaw the build of their Edwin Lutyens-inspired home in Glencoe, Illinois, and the transformation of a former Boy Scout camp in Wisconsin into a charming family compound "made a deal" with her husband, she recalls with a laugh. She promised Alec, who founded Magnetar Capital, that she wouldn't "move any walls." But she also told him, "If we're going to do this, I want to make it personal." She had in mind a winter vacation house, "a kind of French boho ski chalet," as she puts it, for the couple and their four boys, ages 19 to 27-avid skiers all - that was elegant and sophisticated yet unfussy.

In the kitchen, custom walnut cabinetry is paired with honed green slate counters. Bronze stove hood by Amuneal; custom stools by Classic Design; pendant by Piet Hein Eek.