THE REBIRTH OF AN 1830 FARMHOUSE

A designer uses a light touch in a fire-damaged old house.

this story is about the rescue of an antique Connecticut farmhouse, which got a sympathetic renovation after a fire. Parts of it were severely damaged from smoke and water. Then, inspections turned up structural problems and areas that needed to be brought up to code. Happily, the main house was mostly intact. A small bath had been added many years ago, upstairs at the end of a hall, and a kitchen put into the old, one-storey ell.

“I saw a house with plenty of history to preserve,” says interior designer Sarah Blank, “yet it needed to be made functional for the 21st century.” Sarah’s clients, the Ross family, had an emotional tie to the old house and agreed to a preservation approach. “We decided to add a second floor above the ell, for a master suite to include a needed second bathroom. Although the original chestnut

framing and wall boards were found insufficient by the building inspector, the wood from this area of the house was salvaged and used for decorative purposes in the rebuild.”

Sarah Blank, a Connecticut native who continues to study classical architecture, has been involved in the restoration of houses dating back to the mid 1700s. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Thomas Hubka’s Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn,” she says, referencing the seminal book about New England’s historic vernacular dwellings.

“When I got here, I realized that this house is a jewel, with its classic simplicity untouched.” The main block is the “big house,” with a “little house” connector to a “back house” later addition. Blank insisted that the ell and back house remain secondary to the main house in size, finishes, and importance, but the original proportions carry throughout the whole.

Using the old glass, the original windows were salvaged and restored, and new windows upstairs match exactly: They are single-glazed, multi-light wood windows with lead counterweights. “We had heat-loss calculations done,” Blank explains, “and due to the thickness of exterior walls and adequate insulation, the single-glazed ‘new old’ windows meet code. The house is quite warm and cozy.”

Following an old New England tradition, the clapboarded house is painted white with black shutters. Inside and out, simplicity and history reign.

ABOVE Unfussy but pretty, the gardens surrounding the house include a private pool area and a vegetable patch. (inset) A classical bust is among the garden ornaments. OPPOSITE Like the Federal-period farmhouse and rooms inside, the garden is a simple country affair, with split-rail fences and hardy cottage-garden shrubs and flowers.