Project Details
- Project Name
- A Victorian Re-Imagined
- Location
- DC
- Architect
- Hill & Hurtt Architects
- Project Types
- Custom Home
- Project Scope
- Renovation/Remodel
- Size
- 1,710 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2016
- Awards
- 2017 Remodeling Design Awards
- Consultants
- General Contractor: Buffalo Company
- Project Status
- Built
2017 Remodeling Design Awards
Historically Sensitive Renovation under $300,000: Merit
By preserving period details and opening up this 1895 Washington, D.C., rowhouse to the exterior, architect Joshua Hill was able to give his clients the bright interior they craved while paying homage to the home’s traditional style.
The slight edginess he incorporated into the design with charcoal painted interior window frames on the lower level creates drama without dissonance.
He punched through the back exterior wall of the house, creating a wide opening on the first floor with a door and flanking windows in the kitchen leading to a porch. On the floor above, a matching opening with a triptych of windows floods the flex room, which serves the homeowners as office, exercise room, second bedroom, and TV room.
Every room now has access to a window or skylight, creating sight lines and a sense of connection throughout. Hill uncovered a partially blocked skylight in the main stairwell and added another skylight on the second level.
In keeping with the goal of making the space as light as possible, all but one of the downstairs rooms are painted white. The kitchen cabinets are white as well—with those gray-painted door and window frames the only color in the room. But the gray is another point of cohesion, as it blossoms on the walls of the interior dining room and carries on a sight line to the windows and door in the front of the house.
Of the finished job, Hill says: “This is probably the brightest rowhouse I’ve ever been in.”
Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECT:
The clients' main goals were to make the interior spaces as bright as possible, while preserving and enhancing any original character and details from the historic structure. One skylight in the main stairwell was uncovered, and another was added on the second floor to allow light to flood into interior rooms. Plan reconfigurations were made on each level to be sure that visual sight lines across the house were created and enhanced with windows on each end. Original fireplaces, tile surrounds, heart pine flooring, pocket doors, and moulding details were maintained throughout the house. New ceiling beams and crown moulding were added in rooms to provide texture to the ceilings while still fitting in with the original details. New casing and stair parts were custom matched to seamlessly tie into the existing house, while built-in cabinetry was designed as a transitional compliment to the period details. New 5-panel painted doors, glass-knob door hardware, and painted wood double-hung windows were used to enhance and accentuate the historic details.
