When the elevator doors open to the shared living room of the new Spruce Peak Penthouses—formerly known as the Front Four Private Residences—it’s easy to garner a strong sense of place. The iconic, snowy outline of the Front Four ski trails and extensive views of Spruce Peak and Mt. Mansfield tell a story of mountain adventure and luxury slopeside living through the floor-to-ceiling windows that anchor the room.
But the identity of the newly redesigned and rebranded Penthouses comes from deeper within. From physical upgrades to enhanced amenities and services, the Penthouses are a home base at the bottom of the mountain, where families can come together for the first or 50th time and enjoy a five-star experience grounded in Vermont tradition and a local aesthetic. Here, we offer a glimpse into the Penthouse lifestyle at The Lodge at Spruce Peak.
Heightened Hospitality
The feeling of being welcomed home to the Penthouses begins with the pre-arrival experience. A private concierge service contacts guests and owners ahead of time to give them an opportunity to customize their stay, whether that means stocking the fridge with family favorites or creating an action-packed itinerary. Thanks to the Lodge’s convenient ski valet service, hitting the slopes is seamless, and Penthouse owners and guests alike can take advantage of other on-site amenities like the spa and fitness center. Meanwhile, owners receive complementary membership to The Club at Spruce Peak, which includes exclusive perks like access to the Mountain Golf Course, private dining and events, and ski storage. Upon arrival, the separate Penthouse check-in area caters to those who wish to plan out their itineraries in person. Thanks to the convivial atmosphere and attentive service, interactions with staff frequently develop into meaningful relationships.
“The service has always been really personal, but we’ve elevated it with a much more proactive concierge approach,” says Scott Huntsman, The Lodge’s managing director. “We are curating a particular experience for owners and guests, a real opportunity to immerse them in the community, whether on the mountain or [in Spruce Peak Village].”
That sense of community is evidenced in the recently revamped shared Penthouse lounge, which Huntsman describes as a “social setting” where families and guests can mingle. Among other enhancements to the space is a new cocktail bar; with extended hours, the living room now offers cocktail service and light fare in the evenings, in addition to a continental breakfast each morning. And new this season is an expanded menu of signature breakfast items, served either in the Penthouses themselves or in the living room. Whether you’re unwinding with complimentary wine and cheese after check-in on weekends, hunkering down in front of the fire to play Scrabble with the kids, or catching up with friends over spiked mulled cider after a long day on the hill, the living room is a refined yet warm gathering place.
“What we love the most about the Penthouse spaces is that our kids can roam around and feel safe to explore. We also love the staff—they make you feel like family,” says John Coates, who has owned a Penthouse space for three years, but has been coming to the Stowe area with his family for more than a decade. “The valet staff knows our entire family by name, and they go out of their way to be helpful. The ski concierge area is also amazing and provides top-notch service.”
Room Refresh
The ambiance inside the Penthouse suites captures the essence of Vermont and epitomizes luxury mountain living. “The five-star experience in the guest rooms comes from the quality of the [new] furnishings, the fixtures, the bedding; it’s a quality you can touch and feel,” Huntsman says. And while the elements of the new design were selected to create a more modern look, the decor is, in large part, inspired by and from Vermont.
One focus of the redesign was to bring the outside in. “The aesthetic of the Spruce Peak Penthouse refresh has been curated with our natural surroundings in mind,” says Anna Roberts, The Lodge’s property management services coordinator. To achieve this, The Lodge worked closely with Burlington-based TruexCullins design firm.
“Our approach is about framing the view, using lighting and materials that remind us that we’re in the mountains,” says Kim Deetjen, principal designer at TruexCullins. She emphasizes that the project focused on integrating a limited color palette and streamlining materials. According to Deetjen, the Penthouses’ pre-existing open floor plan and elements like stone-framed fireplaces created a perfect canvas for the redesign, but benefited from a stronger, more authentic identity.
“We’re not in Colorado, we’re not in Montana, we’re not in Austria—we’re in Vermont, and the design really speaks to that,” Deetjen says.
As such, both large- and small-scale, locally sourced pieces—many of which are steeped in history—were added into the suites. “The dining tables have walnut tops from Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh, a farmstead that was part of the Underground Railroad that helped free slaves in the 1800s,” Roberts says. “It sells timber to woodworkers as it continues to maintain its woodlots for proper natural resource management.”
Reclaimed wood can be found throughout the units, as well as pieces from Robert Beall of Windy Ledges Metalworks in South Woodbury, glassware from Simon Pearce in Quechee, and beautifully soft Anichini Hospitality bed blankets that are cut and sewn in an old farmhouse in Tunbridge.
The Lodge also plans to incorporate historic postcards and artifacts into the design as a nod to the area’s past, and has collaborated with Vermont artists and photographers to create original artwork for the Penthouses.
“One of our goals in the redesign was to make it timeless—more about place and less about style,” explains Deetjen. “The elements that were chosen will live on indefinitely because they’re of Vermont.”
