WOODS

Testimonial:

“Mark is an excellent architect. In building Mark’s projects, I have become aware of both a keen artistic sense and a practical, functional design that are a part of Mark’s make-up. His attention to detail is superb and his sensitivity to a client’s needs, including budget, is always present.”

- Chuck Lang, Owner, Lang Contracting

About this project:

While architecture often feels like the art of delicate compromise, occasionally a project comes along that leave little room for concession. This was such a home. Despite the potential for tension between executing a faithful historic restoration and inserting all the contemporary assets of new homes, we found little need to offset the gain of one over the other.

Particularly challenging was the desire to bring the layout into the present century. When first built in 1932, this home was organized about the social structure common to its time. That is to say, family and guest spaces were separate and distinct from servant and utility spaces, arranged along a large “c” shape with the parlor at one end and the servants quarters at the other. We simply completed the “o” by inserting a family sitting room into the space of the missing link, replacing the servant quarters with a breakfast room connected to a vastly improved kitchen, conducive to family gatherings. Clearly cooking has changed from a service performed behind a swinging door to a culinary exhibition art form, enacted by family and guests. A secret door forms a short cut across the center of the “o” allowing direct access to the center stair from the family spaces facing the garden.