236 Old Ayer Rd

About this home

Offered for the first time - an architect-designed home on five acres carved from a working orchard, with long views over open farmland to the hills and some of the land still in apple trees planted by the owner's family. The architect's earlier work included the Gothic greenhouses and library at a Boston museum. Designed around those views, it shows the moment you step in: leaded glass panels of apple branches flank the entry, and the land opens up ahead. Nine-foot ceilings run the first floor. The gracious living room rises to a cathedral ceiling on an exposed stained beam, with built-ins, a brick fireplace, a painted orchard mural, and a woodstove insert that can heat the house. Kitchen and dining room share one open thirty-five-foot span: granite island with gas cooktop and seating, double wall ovens, walk-in pantry, built-in desk, glass-front cabinetry, and a bay window over the sink that frames the hills. A glassed-in three-season room with a bluestone floor opens off both. A wooden spiral stair climbs from the second-floor hall, past an arched Palladian window, to an octagonal tower room with views in every direction - a study that closes behind its own door. The primary suite enters through its own vestibule: vaulted ceiling, a bank of picture windows, two fitted walk-in closets and a private deck. Its spa-inspired bath has twin vanities, a glass corner shower with rainfall head and body sprays, and separate water closet. Two more bedrooms share a split bath; a first-floor bedroom with full bath opens to the mudroom and hall. Laundry is on the second floor; the finished lower level adds a large rec room. Outside, a salt-water pool and in-ground spa sit on a paver patio among uplit gardens and tiki torches, much of the planting done by the owner and meticulously kept since. Three-bay attached garage; snow-melt tracks set into the drive. Private well and septic, radiant floors, zoned heat and air, standby generator. Route 2 via Ayer, I-495 in Littleton. The setting is the rarest part: more than sixty acres under Agricultural Preservation Restriction surround the property, with more across the road. And the sun sets over the orchard.