In 2007 John Van Alstine undertook the design and construction of a large sculptural stone fireplace for the main house of the mill complex. The project was conceived in collaboration with Austrian sculptor Caroline Ramersdorfer and executed over several months with a team of skilled craftspeople.

The stone was gathered directly from the 1880s foundations of the original mill buildings on the property — fragments of the site's own industrial history repurposed into a functional sculpture at the heart of the space. A bronze time capsule was embedded in the structure during construction, and custom metalwork throughout reflects Van Alstine's characteristic integration of stone and forged steel.

The fireplace stands as one of the most intimate examples of Van Alstine's practice applied to an architectural scale — a work that is simultaneously sculpture, craft, and lived environment.

Mason, building design Bernie Dunn
Foundation specialist Tom Barton
Design & stone selection Caroline Ramersdorfer
Design, stone selection, metal accessories, crane operator and masonry grunt… John Van Alstine

Two years after the fireplace, a companion outdoor fire pit was added to the garden, extending the project's material vocabulary into the landscape along the banks of the Sacandaga River.