408 Hurd Road, Bethel, NY 12720

You see the stair tower before almost anything else—curved, cedar-sided, and rising beside the front door. It’s the first clue that this house was designed by someone thinking beyond straight lines and predictable rooms. The setting is just as distinctive. More than four acres unfold along famed Filippini Pond, a spring-fed spot loved for kayaking, boating, and fishing, with its own place in local lore as the popular skinny dipping destination for attendees of the original Woodstock festival of 1969. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is steps up the road, making the area’s creative history feel less like the past and more like part of the neighborhood. The house has some architectural bona fides of its own, having received architectural awards - and inside, the reasons reveal themselves gradually. A sweeping staircase wrapped in warm wood forms the center of the home. Curved walls lead into unexpected spaces, custom built-ins appear from room to room, and nearly every turn offers a...