A Very Modern Life in a Very Old Stone House

Peter Speliopoulos and Robert Turner bought the 1720s Hudson Valley house and took their time with it

- WENDY GOODMAN

THEY MUST HAVE been very tall,” Robert Turner says of the original owners of this nearly 300-year-old stone house overlooking a creek in the Hudson Valley that he and his partner, Peter Speliopoulos, bought three decades ago. “Because normally in these Dutch houses I hit my head on every beam. This one has unusually high ceilings.”

Turner and Speliopoulos were slow to renovate the place beyond ridding the interior of stenciled hearts and wreaths, added by the previous owner, that were a bit too quaint for their taste. Restoration and renovation work began in 1995 with architect Jim Joseph of Hottenroth + Joseph Architects. The couple reconfigured the second floor, carving out space in the hallway to create a guest room (which some visitors have said is haunted), and built an addition comprising a library, an entrance hall, and a second bathroom.