A Tour of the Impeccably-Designed Silo Ridge Private Club
Private clubs and resorts are generally known for their exclusivity and strict dress codes-and sometimes for their design. Think Dorothy Draper’s bold stripes at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. Or Tom Scheerer’s pristine palm frond accents at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. Silo Ridge Field Club in the Hudson Valley fits right in with its fashionable forbearers with one key difference: it markets in an aesthetic of all-American wholesomeness that is more about relaxed subtlety than decorative pyrotechnics. Translation? Collared shirts and shoes are not required.
Keen to experience this comfortable take on resort design, I checked it out at the invitation of Mike Meldman, the CEO of Discovery Property, which owns Silo Ridge, the group’s first East Coast golf and equestrian club. Meldman launched Discovery in 1994 in Scottsdale, Arizona, and has added 19 properties in places like Montana, Hawaii, and the Bahamas. His brand of members-only lifestyle clubs appeals to the super-rich-Discovery homeowners include Tom Brady, George Clooney and Bill Gates-and usually includes Tom Fazio-designed golf courses where kids can play barefoot and fetch snacks at comfort stations with names like “front porch” and “back porch.”
Despite this casual style, every element at Silo Ridge is meticulously rendered, right down to the shade of grey stain on the floors (a favorite is “Saturday Evening”). As I walked through several of the planned 245 homes-some in a barn-like style called “Dutchess,” others in a more traditional aesthetic known as “Saratoga”-nearing completion on the 850-acre property, Piper, my guide pointed out expansive outdoor porches complete with fireplaces and kitchen islands big enough to seat a whole clan. Meldman’s ethos revolves around family time and what he has trademarked as “outdoor pursuits.” Thus, each home features floor-to-ceiling Fleetwood pocket windows that slide open to connect interiors to exterior patios, and mudroom lockers big enough to hold ski boots, skis, skates, and tennis racquets.
Head designer Becky Buchan calls this attention to detail the Discovery “essence.” “It’s easy, appeals to all ages, and embraces what’s special about the area,” says Buchan who directs all architecture and design for Discovery Land Properties. In the case of the Hudson Valley, that could be anything from the low-slung stone walls to the blue-stained reclaimed wood siding and rough-hewn frames on every structure. Buchan calls Silo Ridge’s architectural style “modern barn” and points out that even the root cellar and the organic farm are carefully considered, complete with bee boxes, a hydroponic greenhouse, chickens, goats, orchards, a berry patch, and a tribe of friendly Flemish rabbits. Guests can pick their own produce in the garden for dinner, which will also be conceived by the in-house, Michelin-starred chef Jonathan Wright, previously of Le Manoir in France and the Rainbow Room in New York City.
After my tour, I sat down in the collegiate-style clubhouse with its deep leather armchairs and oversized hanging lamps to a five-course lunch of quinoa with roasted squash and morels, organic roast chicken, apple crumble, all served on rustic Hudson Valley pottery. The grand finale would be what Buchan calls “an amazing bed experience” of custom mattresses and a curated collection of Schlossberg and Sferra sheets and towels-because even a good night’s sleep should be well-designed.
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