After so much sober symmetry it is something of a relief to come upon the abandon of this superb Queen Anne double cottage, which is built right on the water. Its steep gambrels cross each other, swinging their sides out over the entrance porches on opposite sides of the house. Within the crisply folded and peaked front elevation, upper-story windows are organized in a tense asymmetry. At ground level a diverse array of architectural elements play with the horizontal molding which differentiates the base of the building from its exaggerated roof gables: between its dissimilar porches at either end, a Palladian motif jams into and through the molding; a pair of rectangular windows hugs it; an oval window within a confined field sends out thrusts in four directions. In the 1980s, such freewheeling use of traditional motifs in playful counterpoint strongly influenced postmodernist design.