In 2018, when Michael Brown and John Kapla purchased a $1.755 million house in New York’s Westchester County, they were not expecting to live among the riffraff.

After all, the 1957 residence is located about 30 miles north of Midtown Manhattan in quiet Briarcliff Manor alongside grand Tudors, classic colonials and renovated midcentury homes. The property is tucked atop a hill at the end of a long driveway with a motorized gate.

The local rabble found them anyway.

“Deer and turkey come up to the house and look inside,” Brown says. “Bald eagles take fish up to the lawn. There are hawks, ospreys and owls.”

Architectural bona fides, Glass house stereotypes, Renovation costs, Can’t-miss features, When Hollywood comes knocking, Reason for selling?, Market snapshot

The house looks like a slice of 1 Liberty Plaza in Manhattan.

Besides the cinematic architecture, Brown says the couple’s favorite thing about the home is its window to nature.

The couple has enjoyed single-story living. The home is functional without feeling claustrophobic, with spaces for both solitude and socializing.

When renovating the house, they didn’t want it to feel like an archival 1950s museum. Instead, they wanted to enhance it to reflect a modern way of living.

These immersive moments with mother nature, Brown says, are the biggest unexpected pleasure of living in a glass house, an experience he describes as cinematic and special.

Architectural bona fides

The residence is one of the few original all-glass midcentury pavilion-style homes in the U.S. It was designed and constructed by late architect Roy O. Allen Jr. as a house for his family. His work included the 1 Liberty Plaza skyscraper in Manhattan. Brown, 47, and Kapla, 43, bought the house purely because they are architecture fans.

As part of the renovation, the couple upgraded the pool.

Glass house stereotypes

Brown says people have assumptions about life in a glass house: too cold, too hot, too much glass. “We love dispelling those preconceived notions,” he says.

Radiant floors and argon gas-filled insulated glass keep the house warm in winter, while a reflective roof and ultraviolet-tinted windows keep it cool in summer. Drapes tuck out of view when open and create a fully-enclosed feel when shut. “You don’t feel on display or overexposed.”

Renovation costs

Brown estimates they spent over $750,000 to update the house for modern living. They reconfigured the primary suite, adding a walk-in closet and upgraded the bathroom with luxe fixtures and slabbed marble.

The surrounding nature inspired the moss-green suede walls and a leathered stone accent wall. They also did maintenance work, replacing and reinforcing the roof, refinishing and repainting the original exterior metal structure and converting the chlorine pool into a heated saltwater pool.

Can’t-miss features

A Sonance speaker system is hidden behind the walls throughout, including in the bathrooms and on the pool terrace. “It really sets the stage for rainy nights with Sinatra or for large and eventful parties,” Brown says.

Glass walls remain the undisputed showstopper. “The home becomes an extension of and looking glass to nature,” he says.

When Hollywood comes knocking

There is another type of animal that shows up at the house. About once a month, a movie or television location scout will inquire about filming there, Brown says. The home has been featured in the television shows “Fallout” and “Hunters.”

Reason for selling?

Brown, an interior design industry executive, and Kapla, a product design executive, are relocating to California—they move often for work. Over the last 14 years, they have renovated four houses. “Given we don’t have children, we have found great joy in being stewards and protectors of these properties,” Brown says. “They are our legacies.”

The house’s color palette—which includes green, yellow, brown and sienna—is pulled from the changing seasons.

In spring and summer, the house gets dappled, leaf-filtered light. In fall, the trees’ technicolor display becomes front and center. In winter, the house has a snow globe effect.

Speakers hidden in the walls throughout the house create an immersive sound experience.

Market snapshot

There is no typical Westchester County buyer, but most want proximity to New York City, says Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty’s Joanna Rizoulis, who is the property’s listing agent along with Amy Smith Sroka. The area has been a robust seller’s market since the pandemic, but more inventory has opened up this spring, she says. Westchester Country’s median sale price was $700,000 in March 2025, according to Redfin.