Dark turns to light in this modern 1980s New York State home, which has a robust industrial form and once belonged to Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe.
The Rubber House in Accord is completely covered in a grey-black neoprene skin and features a contrasting colourful, postmodern interior, filled with glazing and dappled light. It is the case study architectural project of landscape architect Tom Pritchard, built in 1981 with a dance studio for the choreographer Eugene Loring and his partner, a chef.
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-rubber-house-0055-1024x684.jpg)
Photography: The Rubber House
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-rubber-house-0077-1024x684.jpg)
Photography: The Rubber House
![](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-rubber-house-0088-1024x684.jpg)
Photography: The Rubber House
Now it is available to rent as a creative retreat via Airbnb for a 14-night minimum stay at an average cost of £412 a night. It has a double-height staircase void capped with a curving glass roof, glass-to-glass corners and a roof terrace, connecting it to its wooded setting. Willem Dafoe, who once called the property home, remarked that “nature has a dialogue with it… the inside looks out, the outside looks in”.
Pritchard embraced eco-friendly techniques such as a paint-free neoprene exterior and natural ventilation to create the home, which has a vaulted chef’s kitchen, a freestanding geometric fireplace, and a two-person bathtub. The rural two-bedroom property is about 100 miles from New York City and lies on prehistoric boulders in seven-acre grounds, just outside Accord and the Mohonk nature reserve.
![The Rubber House](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-rubber-house-0033.jpg)
![Tom Pritchard's Rubber House is for rent in Accord, New York](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-rubber-house-0066.jpg)
![Tom Pritchard's Rubber House is for rent in Accord, New York](https://cdn.thespaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/the-rubber-house-0044.jpg)