PAST AND PRESENT COMPROMISE
19th century row house undergoes rebuild that respects history, yet gives nod to modern
David Feinstein and Susan Pitman were, technically speaking, city dwellers as 13-year residents in the northwest Washington neighbourhood of Tenleytown. But they were looking for a more urban experience.
In the fall of 2010, they walked through a vintage Victorian row house near Logan Circle and fell in love.
“Starting with the overall street presence, we thought it was one of the most beautiful blocks in the District,” said Feinstein, 49.
“There’s a grand sense to it, and even though it is a row house, it has its own unique characteristics on the facade — from the plaster casts to the nature of the brickwork — that works in concert with the facades along that row.”
The house was built between 1888 and 1890 for James Ewan. Ewan had three daughters, and the home still bears a carved relief of four female hands holding bells. Historians believe the sculpture was a tribute to the Ewan daughters and his wife, giving rise to the home’s identification as The House of Four Bells.
There was no question the 4,000-square-foot home was historic, but it also had issues. The windows facing the street leaked like sieves, and there were more structural challenges. Architect Kendall Dorman, principal at Wiebenson & Dorman Architects, was along for the ride while the couple was house hunting.
“The bathroom floor joists on the second floor looked like beavers had been in there, the roof had to be redone because a big joist was cracked, the stairs were slouching, and the kitchen was a one-sided galley,” Dorman said. “We think the original kitchen may have been in the basement.”
The basement now contains two studio-size apartments as the couple decided to attack the renovation in phases. Phase 1 was window and door replacement to help stabilize interior temperatures. Phase 2 was directed at the bathroom issues on the second floor. Phase 3 targeted the third floor, including the master bathroom, and the final segment focused on the kitchen.
The couple purposefully lived in the space before launching each new phase to see what was working and what wasn’t. They lived in the construction site by occupying rooms on different floors to avoid the ongoing disruption of a sixyear build-out.
The other wrinkle was the couple’s taste in art and decor, which skews modern. Vintage stereo gear, Saarinen tulip chairs and Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chairs would have to blend with the vintage plasterwork, crown mouldings and an ornate grand staircase.
“How do you respect the history and retain the elements that have significance yet move the ball forward?” Feinstein said. Compromises were made as some of the moulding was painted; roughedup plaster was left in place. Original heart of pine flooring was refinished and, where needed, painstakingly matched with salvaged lumber.
An oddly configured bathroom on the second floor became two modern baths. Unused bedrooms became home offices, and a large second-floor bedroom that became known as the “fire room” because of its fireplace and a partly charred floor became the TV room.
The home’s front facade, foyer and living room remained unchanged except for a long built-in bench fashioned from lacquered medium-density fibreboard that starts just beyond the front door, extends through the receiving hall and reappears in the kitchen as a banquette.
“We did want a contemporary feel — the bench was a way to introduce that as soon as you walked into the house,” said Pitman, 51.
The couple enjoys entertaining — sometimes for large groups. But the house lacks a hall closet. There are storage drawers under the seat of the bench, and it also provides a place to drop coats. The bench passes under a wooden lattice that appears to be original to the house and was left in place.
The living room looks out onto the street and hosts a free-standing vintage breakfront that used to be in the formal dining room. The piece was cleaned up and now works as a cocktail station.
The receiving hall provides a landing for the stairs and contains another heirloom — an oversized framed mirror with hooks mounted on the back for more coat storage.
“It was brought into the house at some point,” Pitman said. “The gentleman who owned the house in the 1970s would go around to the local junk shops, and the mirror was probably salvaged from another house.”
When it came to the kitchen, the design team faced a challenge. Dorman recommended flipping the dining room and the kitchen to improve the home’s flow to the rear deck, but the couple wrestled with the implications.
“It was a good two months to get to the decision of changing a formal dining room and galley kitchen, knowing we were altering a bit of history but knowing that the history was no longer relevant to the way we were living,” Feinstein said. “There were elements that we had to sacrifice to be able to make the house as livable as it was for the people who designed it and lived in it in the 1890s.”
The flip worked on correcting the flow as the design team went with an island equipped with a drop-in sink and casual seating. Overhead track lighting provides illumination.
Two full light doors help bring the sun into the kitchen and lead guests out onto the back deck that’s set up for grilling. A steel arch painted green frames the views from the deck while also supporting the “sky deck” protruding from Pitman’s third-floor office.
The third floor also houses the master suite and a master bathroom with a Japanese twist, a tub and a shower right next to each other. Drawing from the tradition of the “onsen,” the wet room allows a bather to shower before entering the tub that is used for a relaxing soak.
In the master bath, a compromised ceiling joist gave the architect the opening he needed to install a skylight and bring in a bit more light.
The house closed for US$1.48 million in 2010.
There’s a grand sense to it, and even though it is a row house, it has its own unique characteristics on the facade.