Reinhardt

Tasteful Teardown: A Cinderella Story

If there was ever a house that looked out of place, it would have been number 45 Mountain Avenue. A social outcast, this 1950's Ranch never managed to blend well into the neighborhood of exquisite Tudor, Victorian, Georgian Revival and Arts & Crafts homes. Luckily, its most recent owners enlisted our help to turn their vision into a reality. Taking full advantage of the existing foundation, Clawson Architects planned to work upwards, raising the house while preserving a recently-installed kitchen.

Before

After

A new entrance portico, balconies, traditional windows, large overhangs with exposed rafter tails and brackets transformed this once bland ranch into a thoughtful, craftsman-style home.

The architects' use of stucco, cedar shake shingles and stone add dimension and authenticity. With the addition of a small powder room tucked underneath the stair at the owner's request, the architects' were able to furthermore capture the quirkiness of older homes.

If it weren't for the before pictures, it would be hard to imagine number 45 Mountain was ever anything else. The sensitivity to period details, scale and material selections let this new old house stand with pride alongside its neighbors, given its new architectural integrity.

To complete the design, Clawson Architects created a third floor dormered suite that, as one visitor exclaimed, is "fit for Mary Poppins!" with a view of the neighboring homes' slate roofs and chimney pots.

View the design process for this project.