Project Description
2008 RADA
Renovation / Grand
Those lucky enough to possess a vacation residence often become emotionally attached to it. But for Paul and Jeannine Weeks, who own this 1950s A-frame on a Tennessee lake, the connection goes even further: Paul’s late father, architect Felder Weeks, designed the original house for himself and his family. Growing up, Paul and his siblings spent every summer sheltered under the building’s massive wooden beams. So when he and his wife decided to renovate and live in the house full time, they weren’t looking for drastic design changes. “They just wanted to honor his dad’s work and this house that the family cherishes like a diamond,” says designer Brian Pittman, Assoc. AIA.
The couple initially brought the project to Bruce McCarty, FAIA, founding principal of McCarty Holsaple McCarty in Knoxville, Tenn. He passed the job to Pittman, a designer at the firm, who designed the remodel on his own time with McCarty acting as an adviser. Pittman shared the clients’ love of the home’s artful simplicity, drawing all the renovation plans by hand out of respect for the original. After gutting most of the house, he updated the kitchen and baths, added a laundry room and mudroom, and created a guesthouse connected to the main residence by a breezeway. He also removed a more recent greenhouse addition, using that square footage to enlarge the living room. Throughout the project he replaced old materials and systems with more refined ones, never deviating from the spirit of the place.
“Buildings of this era are really hard to bring back,” said a judge. “They did it beautifully.”