Victorian Treasure Revealed
It’s a balmy spring evening. A couple and their two kids sit on their front porch watching a game of soccer across the road on the little urban green. They wave to neighbors as they pass by on the sidewalk.
But before a major architectural intervention, these seemingly ordinary pleasures were not possible. The house’s good Victorian bones had been compromised over the years. Incongruous additions had been haphazardly and clumsily constructed, cutting the owners off from the community buzz.
The couple hired me to remedy the isolation, and to bring order to the house’s exterior and interior. I designed a radical reconstruction of the whole front of the house. A major feature of the design is a gracious front porch enhanced by ornamental details. An elegant set of stairs leads to a new entry and sequence of interior rooms. From a disused stair tower I were able to carve out a much needed mudroom with abundant storage.
Many conversations were involved between me and client. What would be the ideal dimensions and proportions of the new front porch? What were to be the appropriate turnings for the balusters? How could the design of the column brackets be something fresh and new and still be true to the house’s Victorian character?
Talking through the issues and understanding the consequences of choices made for a smooth-running project. The happy outcome was a house now true to its Victorian spirit, one in which the owners get to enjoy the special relationship of house to street and park setting. This relationship was further brought out by the brilliant landscape design of Matthew Cunningham.
Historic Newton gave its Preservation Award to the project, the essence of an artful renovation of a Victorian house.
Victorian Treasure Revealed
It’s a balmy spring evening. A couple and their two kids sit on their front porch watching a game of soccer across the road on the little urban green. They wave to neighbors as they pass by on the sidewalk.
But before a major architectural intervention, these seemingly ordinary pleasures were not possible. The house’s good Victorian bones had been compromised over the years. Incongruous additions had been haphazardly and clumsily constructed, cutting the owners off from the community buzz.
The couple hired me to remedy the isolation, and to bring order to the house’s exterior and interior. I designed a radical reconstruction of the whole front of the house. A major feature of the design is a gracious front porch enhanced by ornamental details. An elegant set of stairs leads to a new entry and sequence of interior rooms. From a disused stair tower I were able to carve out a much needed mudroom with abundant storage.
Many conversations were involved between me and client. What would be the ideal dimensions and proportions of the new front porch? What were to be the appropriate turnings for the balusters? How could the design of the column brackets be something fresh and new and still be true to the house’s Victorian character?
Talking through the issues and understanding the consequences of choices made for a smooth-running project. The happy outcome was a house now true to its Victorian spirit, one in which the owners get to enjoy the special relationship of house to street and park setting. This relationship was further brought out by the brilliant landscape design of Matthew Cunningham.
Historic Newton gave its Preservation Award to the project, the essence of an artful renovation of a Victorian house.