Working brick-by-brick

Couple paid special attention to character of historic home they restored

SEATTLE — One of these bricks is not like the others. OK — maybe more than one, but you’d be hard-pressed to detect any rectangular outliers on Rob and Monica Dunlop’s historic home in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

That’s quite something. Brick is a tough customer, design-wise — especially when you’re adding on to a home, and especially when you’re intent on preserving its character, and the neighbourhood’s, and the historic brick itself.

This particular brickwork, said Eric Gedney (of Eric Gedney, Architect), “has a whole cool story.” It begins in 1929, with the construction of this stately home of enviable arches, rich details and classic proportions.

The brick yarn picks up again in 1998, when the Dunlops bought the home. The previous owner told them a University of Washington professor used to bring a class by every year, just so students could sketch the bricks.

“That solidified ‘this brick is special,’ ” Gedney said. “The character of it is so strong.”

As was the home’s potential. “We loved a lot about this house — the brickwork, the flow,” Rob said. “We knew it could be really great.”

The Dunlops (he works in the media, she is a part-time student at the University of Washington), with now-14-yearold daughter Ava, pondered that potential for years. Clearly, there was room for improvement. Or, in the case of the original kitchen, not much room at all: just 119 low, dark square feet. “It was a one-person kitchen,” Monica said.

They initially envisioned a “just bump it out a little” addition — a kitchen, a real mudroom, a butler’s pantry, a staging area for china, silver and linens — that respected the home’s era. And that beautiful brick. “We shared with Eric that if we couldn’t carry the brickwork, we’d sell the house,” Monica said.

As that initial idea expanded (“What if we moved out and took over the not-wellused-yard?” Gedney suggested. Well, Rob replied: “Since we were moving the kitchen into the yard, we could reutilize the space on the first floor.”), they carried the brickwork along, thanks in huge part to a heroic heavy-lifter — artisan mason Todd Taylor of Ernest Construction. Taylor “counted every brick with binoculars — how many could be salvaged or restored,” Monica said. “The window sills were missing brick, so he went to a city site that had bricks from a bank that was being demolished and got them. He salvaged all those bricks and reused them.”

Bricks were removed, matched and reinstalled. An entire corner segment was torn down and rebuilt. Some newer bricks found a home in the new west wall, where “they’re not a part of the front visual,” Monica said — or any visual at all, for that matter (they’re behind a very cleverly sited trellis).

In the corner quoins, in the top frieze, in the transition piece and in the addition, original bricks, found bricks and recreated bricks coexist, seamlessly.

That’s flow. And that’s just the outside. Inside, this happened: • The new addition ended up bumping out almost 600 square feet for a gorgeously classic, airy, black-and-white kitchen that’s flooded with light from transom windows above folding doors that open to the new patio, reoriented yard and dog run for Dunlop pups Blix and Winnie.

(Plus, all the wish-list prerequisites from the initial concept.)

• On the first floor, Gedney remodelled the library, hallway and powder room, and “managed to chisel in room” for a his-andher office with a glass-filled pocket door.

• Upstairs, the master bedroom, master bathroom and master closet came together in one spacious, private, complete suite.

• Original wood floors and windows were repaired and restored (with new, matching ones in the addition), and the hardscaping, landscaping, wiring and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems were also updated (those bricks created a bit of a pizza-oven effect pre-air conditioning.

Throughout, plasterwork was carefully matched, coves were meticulously maintained, jambs were custom-cut, base molding was hand-milled.

The Dunlops redid the hearth in the living room, adding stone and a piece of scratch marble to the original fireplace, and leaving it as a wood-burner.

You can’t help but notice an impressive commitment to detail and preservation — but those older-than-1929 bricks? Good luck noticing them.

“Good architecture is about the outside and the inside working,” Gedney said.

“I’m so thankful they cared about making this look like it could be part of the original.”

When the Dunlops envisioned their new kitchen, they knew they wanted classic black and white, “and a long island gathering space,” Monica said. The countertops are quartzite. Folding doors open to a new patio.

Rob and Monica Dunlop remodelled and restored their now-3,212-square-foot 1929 home.

Before the kitchen addition, Monica said, “we used to eat breakfast and dinner in the dining room at the table.”

The hearth in the living room was redone with stone and a piece of scratch marble was added to the original fireplace, leaving it as a wood-burner.

Arches, curves and niches define the original Siberian white oak staircase, which was given a new handrail.

The new handmade door keeps its original mahogany and shape, but adds glass.