La maison
By Melanie Cissone // Photography by Colleen Duffley
n Bethel, Maine, at the northeastern edge of the White Mountains, vacationing architect Geoff Chick greeted 2019 in the company of his wife and two children while he also ushered in his twenty-third year as a resident of Northwest Florida. The scale is tipped now in the direction of more years on the Emerald Coast than Chick ever lived in his native Massachusetts. And, perhaps unlike any other architect designing along the Scenic Highway 30-A corridor, Chick, his wife, Shawn, and their family have lived in nearly every locale of Walton County, experiencing the geophysical and community variations the stunning terrain and population have to offer. Chick’s boyish looks and barely-there Southern accent belie both his forty-five years and his New England upbringing. In as much time as he’s been a Floridian, the professional has made an impactful and prolific mark along the Gulf of Mexico’s white sandy shores. 60 | F EBRUA R Y 2019
Right: The Chick family— Shawn, Chloe, Geoff, and Gavin Above: Architect Geoff Chick converted this beautiful barn in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, into a family home with connected stables and loft hangout space. Far right: Chloe, the equestrian of the family, was the inspiration for their move to the farm.
