Butler Tarkington Modern Tudor

Before this 1920’s-era Butler Tarkington Modern Tudor was renovated, current Owners were renting the property.  They had fallen in love with the Butler Tarkington neighborhood and decided to make an offer on the property with the goal of a major renovation/addition.  We are grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with one of our most fun and “construction tolerant” clients of all time – they braved the process by living in the house through about 95% of the construction process!

Design solution included removing previous addition and replacing it with new Garage/Master Suite Addition in the spirit of the original house.  Interiors were mostly transformed to create new open modern functionality while maintaining the character and charm of the original.

Construction process was divided into two phases.  Phase One included removal of pre-existing addition and adding new addition prior to breaking-through to original structure.  During this time, Owner was able to live in the original portion of the home, including maintaining use of their kitchen.  For Phase Two, we agreed Owner would take a two-week vacation over Christmas Break while did the demolition and new steel beam installation.  When they returned, they lived a short while with friends until moving to lower level of the home for the majority of the next 10 months of construction.  Brave soles are they!

09.01.2016:  From our Client: Two years later, “People still stop all the time and ask about this house and who did it.  It’s incredible and we sure are grateful for both of you (Derek and Chris)”.

Media Links:

Check out story featuring this project:  Rummelige råd: Sådan indretter du bedst de store rum

“Scandinavian Recreation Room” in the house was featured here:  Scandinavian Rec Room

Rec rooms can be multipurpose areas that are fit for both unwinding and working.  Versatile and low-key, Scandinavian designs can help you create a fun, bright and open space for all sorts of activities, from a game of foosball to catching up on studying.

Project Info – Butler Tarkington Modern Tudor

Architecture/Interior Design/Photography:  HAUS | Architecture
Construction Management:  WERK | Building Modern
Featured:  2014 AIA Home Tour

Demolition Begins – Butler Tarkington Modern Tudor

This house had a pre-existing addition that had been added in the 1960’s.  We started by removing that structure in preparation for a larger and more fitting side-kick to the original home.  Previous garage had curb-cut from side street.  We flipped to a new curb access via Blue Ridge.  The thickness of portions of the original concrete slab was much more than anticipated (see photos below).

For Phase 2 Renovation work, we totally gutted the kitchen, stair, dining, powder room, upstairs full bathroom, and pre-existing Master Suite.  Other three Bedrooms and Living Room stayed intact (for the most part).  We installed all new exterior windows throughout.  The two photos below includes work completed while client away on Christmas Break.  As part of opening Dining to Kitchen and Living areas, we installed a 22-foot long new steel beam with steel columns resting on new basement footing pads.  Second photo below shows new shoring wall just before new beam work began.

Details, details, details.  Image below shows how we handled some door threshold transitions – utilizing terrazzo strips between turned wood thresholds.  Nothing fancy, just attention to detail – the finer points, my friend.

This shot below of the master bath had yet to include proper waterproofing membrane over niche shelf – we took care of that detail later.  This was our first experience using a complete Schluter waterproofing system.  It turned out well and has performed as planned.

Exterior Painting – Butler Tarkington Modern Tudor

Up until the exterior painting stage, we had gotten a lot of curious looks since our new brick areas did not match the original orange brick.  We were able to match the brick texture, but not color.  The texture was the important part, since we had always planned to paint the entire exterior white per Owner original request from the very beginning.  Much of the original brick was reused, but the new supplementary brick was a red coloration – and used wherever convenient by masons.  So, we had a very interesting patchwork of two colors of brick mixed around the exterior, soliciting a lot of curiosity until the painting phase.