Through universal design concepts, Long Island family creates home for three generations

From The New York Times:

Early this month, three generations of the Delfino family moved into the 3,400-square-foot stone and stucco home they designed for themselves in Port Jefferson Station.

Mike Delfino Jr., 52, and his wife, Maria, 49, took the master suite on the right side of the first floor. Their sons, ages 16 and 20, have bedrooms upstairs and a large game room that could be a living room if they decided to boomerang back home as adults.

“If they get married,” their father said, “there is room for them to have their wives there and get a start.”

On the left side of the first floor is another master suite, with sitting room and bath, for Mrs. Delfino’s mother, Anne Calaci, 84, who is making the transition to the Delfinos’ new spread from her home in Mineola.

After Mrs. Calaci’s husband died four years ago, the Delfinos wanted her to move into the 2,200-square-foot center-hall colonial they then owned, also in Port Jefferson Station. She balked.

“The other home was so small she thought she was going to be in our way,” said Mr. Delfino, the owner of an insulation company.

In response, the family decided to design a place that would accommodate their multigenerational needs.

“When we married and had the little ones,” Mr. Delfino said, Mr. and Mrs. Calaci “were there for us every step of the way. It’s time to pay back.”

Across the Island, builders are emphasizing versatility in their designs, putting up homes easily adaptable for multiple generations seeking to live under one roof. Lennard Axinn, the Delfinos’ builder and the owner of Island Estates Homes in Ronkonkoma, said he had found strong customer interest in houses “customizable for a wide variety of needs.”

“On the practical side,” Mr. Axinn added, “the sandwich generation has kids to raise and parents to be the guardian of.” In a home he recently finished in a new subdivision, the grandfather has living quarters in the basement with a separate entrance.

“It’s the only market with a pulse,” Mr. Axinn said.

That may be because buying a house conceived with multiple generations in mind makes a lot more sense to a forward-thinking buyer than trying to retrofit a smaller, more conventional house.

The number of households nationwide with more than two generations expanded to 6.2 million in 2008, from 5 million in 2000, according to AARP.

Stephen Melman, the director of economic services at the National Association of Home Builders, a trade group in Washington, said that at its International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas in January, the model “new American home” included, on opposite ends of the house, a master bedroom for the owners and a second master bedroom for their parents. The design allowed room for privacy and “acoustical separation,” he said.

The second master, also known as the in-law suite, “doesn’t have to be enormous in terms of floor area,” Mr. Melman said, “but it must be complete, with closet space and a full bathroom.” When smartly designed, it would include accessible “universal design elements” like nonslip floors, a step-free shower entrance and doorways that could accommodate a wheelchair, so that an aging owner wouldn’t have to look elsewhere for user-friendly housing.

The same quarters might also be used by adult children returning from college who “might make too much noise or need privacy,” Mr. Melman added, or for a caregiver for the owner. Flexibility is important. If the caregiver moved out, the room could become an office.

Douglas Schmieder, a builder in Southampton whose cedar-sided postmodern homes average $1 million, said that four of the eight houses he had built for clients in the last two to three years had included “separate living quarters” with kitchens, in anticipation of elderly parents or a college student returning home after graduation. “Generally it is on the ground level with a separate access” and an open layout, he said.

Steven Kosoff, a builder in Matinecock, recently completed a 7,000-square-foot turreted house in Upper Brookville, which he has listed at $2.95 million. The floor-to-ceiling limestone fireplace in the great room, the lavish oversized kitchen and the elevator shaft are not its only draws. Double doors off the foyer lead to a 26-by-16-foot in-law suite with a full bath, including whirlpool tub and separate shower, while the main master bedroom is one of five upstairs.

Mr. Kosoff described the shingle and brick home, set on two acres, as easily customizable. The ground-floor suite could be divided if an owner wanted a sitting room or it could be configured as a library.

Joseph Fusaro, the owner of AMJ Building in Huntington, was inspired by the work he did converting part of his own home for his mother-in-law to build a 3,500-square-foot Victorian-style home on Cuba Hill Road with multigenerational options already built in. The rear wing on the first floor is geared to returning adult children or elderly parents — with a separate entrance, its own bath and easy access to the kitchen.

“We wanted to be versatile,” Mr. Fusaro said. “Multigenerational is something people are looking for.” Others could use the space as a playroom or office.

Even when the need is not imminent, Mr. Schmieder said, his homes have preinstalled rough plumbing and electrical lines, in case homeowners want to finish accessory living quarters later on. He generally designs with expansion plans for 1,000 to 1,500 extra feet. “When people build,” he said, “they want to accommodate for that.”

Christopher Burnside, a broker and senior director of the Bridgehampton office of Brown Harris Stevens, and a builder on the East End, said a significant number of home shoppers were asking for “first-floor master bedrooms for their parents.”

Accordingly, in designing the 6,000-square-foot modern farmhouse he is building overlooking polo fields in Bridgehampton, he has included a master suite on the first floor and a second one upstairs. Four bedrooms will be on the other side of the house.

“Builders are giving people what they want,” Mr. Burnside said. “No one wants to put their mother in the basement.”