Houzz Tour: A Historic Home Takes a Scholarly Bent
Respect for history is more than academic in this home renovation and addition for Stanford University professors
This Craftsman remodel and addition in Palo Alto, California, is a story of transformation for both a home and its inhabitants. From the outside, you see a linking structure that connects the original, historic home to an architecturally sympathetic two-story addition. But inside is where the changes are most seen and felt.
Architect Cathy Schwabe transformed the way the house and its addition relate to the various outdoor spaces, changing the way the clients use and live in the home. "If I had to point to the main thing that is different about the house, it is that the outside has been brought in. This connection with the landscape — the light, the weather — it is far greater than ever before. Living in the house just feels better," says Schwabe.
In addition to improving the indoor-outdoor quality of the house, the architect also created new, private spaces in the addition, enabling this academic family to leave their work in the original part of the house and return with ease to the more private living and sleeping quarters in the addition.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Stanford University professors and their family
Location: Palo Alto, California
Size: 3,600 square feet
Year built: 1899
That's interesting: This neighborhood, a registered historic district, is known as Professorville for its early connection with Stanford University.
Architect Cathy Schwabe transformed the way the house and its addition relate to the various outdoor spaces, changing the way the clients use and live in the home. "If I had to point to the main thing that is different about the house, it is that the outside has been brought in. This connection with the landscape — the light, the weather — it is far greater than ever before. Living in the house just feels better," says Schwabe.
In addition to improving the indoor-outdoor quality of the house, the architect also created new, private spaces in the addition, enabling this academic family to leave their work in the original part of the house and return with ease to the more private living and sleeping quarters in the addition.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Stanford University professors and their family
Location: Palo Alto, California
Size: 3,600 square feet
Year built: 1899
That's interesting: This neighborhood, a registered historic district, is known as Professorville for its early connection with Stanford University.
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| The original, historic house is on the right; the one-story structure in the middle connects the bungalow to the two-story addition on the left. "I start every visit in the linking structure. The entry is modest and understated," says Schwabe. |
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| The National Historic Register describes the original house as having a "vaguely Japanese" character, which Schwabe attributes to the home's irregular roof overhang. |
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| The architect transformed the former dining room into a guest room/study. The clients, professors at Stanford, occasionally invite scholars to stay in their home for an extended period of time. Schwabe's clients also work undisturbed in the scholar’s wing — and can leave their work and return to the addition. "There's a choice, in other words. Not living in the middle of one’s work seems a key way to manage the stress of today. This was not possible before, when spaces intermixed," Schwabe says. Pendants: Galbraith & Paul Smokebush Medium Pendant, Room & Board |
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| The architect changed what used to be the former living room into a library. Her team also carefully removed the old flooring to refinish it before reinstalling the floors in this part of the original house. "The windows on the right are original. I salvaged the windows on the left from a deconstructed part of the house for improved daylighting. This [left] wall was orginally an interior wall, but I think the added light brings a completely new dimension to the original house," she says. |
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| Walking through the original home's hallway into the linking structure feels like a "walk through time," Schwabe says. The play of old and new is felt most here. Sliding doors open up the walls on both sides of the hallway, and in some ways the walls seem to disappear, fusing the interior to the outside. "The house personifies naturalism, a huge part of Craftsman philosophy," she says. The architect encouraged the absence of art on the walls. "The materials are so beautiful that they are decoration enough," she says. Sliding doors, screens: Fleetwood; hanging art quilt: Ellen Oppenheimer; flooring: Douglas fir, original to house; Womb Chair (at right): Y Living |
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| The courtyard revealed itself throughout the design process and came from both one of the clients — a mathematician committed to the idea of an efficient layout of space — and the architect. The courtyard gives the family a replacement outdoor space for the area that is now taken by the addition. It also links the old house to its newer parts. |
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| Schwabe relocated the kitchen to the addition. Here is where she reinterpreted materials used in the old house: The smooth, oiled, horizontal wood boards of the old house became vertical, painted, resawn wood boards in this room; the weathered Douglas fir flowing off the old house became a rough basalt tile floor in the new; the redwood cabinets of the old became painted cabinets. The result is a light-filled kitchen with easy access to the outdoors, thanks to full-height sliding doors. |
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The red cedar ceiling uses a tongue and groove assembly to conceal the nails and a mitered connection at the corner joints as the wood changes direction with the ceiling framing. The ceiling and flooring add visual interest to a sun-drenched, porch-like bedroom on the second floor.
The addition allows for the separation of the family's living areas from the quieter older wing, used mainly by guests and other scholars.
The addition allows for the separation of the family's living areas from the quieter older wing, used mainly by guests and other scholars.
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The master bedroom enjoys its own balcony area, which overlooks the interior courtyard and the original house.
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The Ann Sacks sakura tile mural extends the Japanese character of the original house into the master bath. The subtle transition from old to new in this house "is a quiet merging of melodies," says Schwabe.
Ideabook published on Sept. 7, 2012.
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As to what can be changed in a historic house - the protected facades in this house were those that were public facing -- they were either repaired or restored. The section of the house that was modified was in the private facing rear corner of the old house -- and as such was not historically protected. The rear quarter was actually removed to create an interior courtyard, make it possible to bring lmore light and air into the old + new house and provide space for the addition.
For the energy question: this is a benign climate for sure -- and in the original section, in spite of the addtion of insulation where there was none previously ( walls, attic + crawl space) and an improved heating system -- the decision to retain the old single glazed windows makes this part of the house noticeably cooler in the cold months -- than the reconstructed and new parts of the house. I think that this is more the issue that would present a problem in less benign climates -- done right - lots of glass can be quite comfortable in areas which a more extreme climate.
I hope this provides greater clarity.