Charmed by the character and quality of this 1930’s fieldstone Colonial Revival house prominently positioned at the bend of a leafy street, the owners made the unusual choice to renovate rather than tear down. They aimed to preserve much of the original structure while expanding the footprint to 10,000 square feet to accommodate their growing family. We worked in close collaboration with the owner’s interior designer Markham Roberts to achieve their vision. Starting with the façade, we removed faux shutters in order to reveal more of the extraordinary original stone work and replaced clunky 1980’s windows with leaner frames that provide more glass and are truer to the original design. We strengthened the main entrance by replacing the anemic door surround with a more robust composition: wide pilasters frame a new pair of full-height side lights and an updated door, visually supporting a broadbeam overhang. This establishes a suitably weighty central focal point for the broad stone façade. Three new gable-end dormers punctuate the slate-roofed attic story, expanding the upper bedrooms and filling out the overall composition of the house. A formerly squat garage at one end of the façade was stretched upwards with a mezzanine to accommodate a new additional bedroom. In turn, the original garage windows were stretched downward for a new library in place of the garage. At the house’s east end, a new motor court, walled kitchen garden, and mudroom provide service access. We met the owner’s programmatic needs by reconfiguring the interior plan to include a clear central hall with a four level staircase, flanked by the original rooms at the front and leading to the three-storey addition facing the park-like garden. Triple gabled, the new rear façade is faced with real plaster stucco over masonry, with limestone trim details framing the large windows and doors.  The elevated terrace extends the living space of the first floor outdoors and offers views of the vibrant landscape designed by Oehme, van Sweden.

Photography by Roger Foley