The master bath has been updated since the house was built.

Twenty-eight years ago, Barrington architect Marc Lowenstein, an early proponent of solar heat, designed and built Eric and Sue Simonsen’s rambling house on Rumstick Point.

The house has 11 rooms, including four bedrooms, two full bathrooms and one half bathroom.

At the time, Lowenstein, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, would only design solar houses, the Simonsens said.

“We wanted a more contemporary feel … [and] we really liked the way his homes looked,” Sue Simonsen remembered.

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Walk through the House of the Week

In 1986, Lowenstein won an award from the U.S. Department of Energy for another solar house he designed on Strawberry Lane in Barrington.

According to Spencer Dickinson, a builder who sells and installs solar heating components, Lowenstein had made “a full commitment to solar heating.” Dickinson worked with Lowenstein and his partner, Victor Caetano, on a number of projects.

“Marc just got into this with both feet,” he said. “I have so much admiration for him.” Dickinson said Lowenstein took a style of architecture that is often “wasteful” with space, and “he made it efficient.”

The Simonsens’ house has an open design and like many modern houses, manages to provide ample views of the outdoors while shielding the indoors from public view.

The lush landscaping of the one-acre property adds to the feeling of privacy. There are stone walls in the front yard, and the property has underground utilities and lawn sprinklers.

The back yard, which has an in-ground pool, is fenced. A shed near the pool has a sink and water faucets and is used to store pool and gardening equipment.

The clapboarded, post and beam house also has deeded water access.

Inside, the kitchen, which has been renovated since the house was built, has a large center island with a Gaggenau grill.

The kitchen is part of a large open space that includes a dining area and a family room. A more formal living room area is behind a brick fireplace in the dining area. The living room has wood floors, exposed beams, and windows that let in plenty of sunlight.

It also leads to a large sunroom with a curved wall of windows, stenciled wood floors and views of the private back yard.

A half-bath downstairs has a dark-red tiled floor and a sink decorated with a painting of a rabbit.

A brick walkway leads to the front door of the house, which opens to an entryway that separates the garage and “work” areas of the house from the living quarters.

The entryway extends to the rear of the house and a brick walkway in the back yard.

The Simonsens divided the work areas near the 2½-car garage and Sue has the first-level space, which she uses as her basket-making workshop. Eric has the second-level space, where he has a home office and workout equipment.

Like the main living space, the work spaces have high ceilings, exposed beams, skylights and wood floors.

Upstairs, the office and the master bedroom suite share access to a large exterior deck that is above the sunroom on the first floor.

The master bedroom has a working fireplace built into a wall. The master bath has also been updated since the house was built, and it has a large jetted soaking tub.

Dickinson said he and his daughter recently photographed all 18 solar houses that Lowenstein designed in the area during a short period in the 1980s.

“He’s like Picasso; he was such an energetic, inspirational person,” Dickinson said of Lowenstein. “And that is probably his best house.”

The solar house at 6 Apple Tree Lane in Barrington is on the market for $999,900. Property taxes are $20,121. An open house is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact the listing real estate agent, Beth Davis, of Coleman Realtors, (401) 282-8876.How to submit a House of the Week

A different House of the Week appears each Saturday in the projoHomes section of The Providence Journal. The feature tells the story of the house and the people who have lived in it.

If you would like us to consider a house for sale as a subject of this news feature, send a photo, information about the house and why it is of interest, to:

Christine Dunn or Andy Smith, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902; fax (401) 277-8250; or e-mail pjhomes@projo.com.

For more information, call Dunn: (401) 277-7913 or Smith: (401) 277-7262.

cdunn@projo.com