Search results for "Sympathetic" in Home Design Ideas

This project is a new 5,900 sf. primary residence for a couple with three children. The site is slightly elevated above the residential street and enjoys winter views of the Potomac River.
The family’s requirements included five bedrooms, five full baths, a powder room, family room, dining room, eat-in kitchen, walk-in pantry, mudroom, lower level recreation room, exercise room, media room and numerous storage spaces. Also included was the request for an outdoor terrace and adequate outdoor storage, including provision for the storage of bikes and kayaks. The family needed a home that would have two entrances, the primary entrance, and a mudroom entry that would provide generous storage spaces for the family’s active lifestyle. Due to the small lot size, the challenge was to accommodate the family’s requirements, while remaining sympathetic to the scale of neighboring homes.
The residence employs a “T” shaped plan to aid in minimizing the massing visible from the street, while organizing interior spaces around a private outdoor terrace space accessible from the living and dining spaces. A generous front porch and a gambrel roof diminish the home’s scale, providing a welcoming view along the street front. A path along the right side of the residence leads to the family entrance and a small outbuilding that provides ready access to the bikes and kayaks while shielding the rear terrace from view of neighboring homes.
The two entrances join a central stair hall that leads to the eat-in kitchen overlooking the great room. Window seats and a custom built banquette provide gathering spaces, while the French doors connect the great room to the terrace where the arbor transitions to the garden. A first floor guest suite, separate from the family areas of the home, affords privacy for both guests and hosts alike. The second floor Master Suite enjoys views of the Potomac River through a second floor arched balcony visible from the front.
The exterior is composed of a board and batten first floor with a cedar shingled second floor and gambrel roof. These two contrasting materials and the inclusion of a partially recessed front porch contribute to the perceived diminution of the home’s scale relative to its smaller neighbors. The overall intention was to create a close fit between the residence and the neighboring context, both built and natural.
Builder: E.H. Johnstone Builders
Anice Hoachlander Photography

Photography by Angle Eye Photography
Mid-sized elegant brown two-story stone gable roof photo in Philadelphia
Mid-sized elegant brown two-story stone gable roof photo in Philadelphia

The project’s starting point was to understand the building’s original post and beam structure and to use that internal logic to formulate a sympathetic remodel. With an emphasis on the upper back unit, the owner’s private residence within this recently purchased Edward Killingsworth triplex, the first order of business was to strip the excess out and to return the complex to something that resembled the original. With a limited budget, the tact was to restore where possible, and to insert where needed, but always with a sympathetic eye. The kitchen quickly became the primary focus and it was soon realized that by removing the division between the existing galley and family room that the essence of the structural system could be revealed. Once opened the datum of the layered beams was adhered to with the kitchen reinforcing this overhead water line. The primary internal wall was then highlighted with a new wood veneer with the refrigerator recessed (borrowing a bit of space from the master closet) and the existing heater chromed.
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This Tudor house was built in the early 1930’s in a historic district that became known as the Cheelcroft Section of Hohokus. The characteristic features that distinguish these homes reflect the old world charm of stone facades, slate roofs and decorative half-timber and stucco siding.
Morpurgo Architects’ clients’ request for a Master Bedroom Suite, kitchen extension and ancillary areas resulted in our designing for their home sympathetic additions with complex roof intersections. We also created an accessory building that includes a 3-car garage with a media and entertainment room above. In keeping with the Tudor details of the main residence, this structure incorporates retrofitted steel windows and doors. The additions to the house and the plan for the garage fit seamlessly with this classic 80-year-old Tudor.

photo byJoe Kitchen
this project is an historically sympathetic addition to a ca. 1910 house
Traditional exterior home idea in Philadelphia
Traditional exterior home idea in Philadelphia

The project’s starting point was to understand the building’s original post and beam structure and to use that internal logic to formulate a sympathetic remodel. With an emphasis on the upper back unit, the owner’s private residence within this recently purchased Edward Killingsworth triplex, the first order of business was to strip the excess out and to return the complex to something that resembled the original. With a limited budget, the tact was to restore where possible, and to insert where needed, but always with a sympathetic eye. The kitchen quickly became the primary focus and it was soon realized that by removing the division between the existing galley and family room that the essence of the structural system could be revealed. Once opened the datum of the layered beams was adhered to with the kitchen reinforcing this overhead water line. The primary internal wall was then highlighted with a new wood veneer with the refrigerator recessed (borrowing a bit of space from the master closet) and the existing heater chromed.

This project for a builder husband and interior-designer wife involved adding onto and restoring the luster of a c. 1883 Carpenter Gothic cottage in Barrington that they had occupied for years while raising their two sons. They were ready to ditch their small tacked-on kitchen that was mostly isolated from the rest of the house, views/daylight, as well as the yard, and replace it with something more generous, brighter, and more open that would improve flow inside and out. They were also eager for a better mudroom, new first-floor 3/4 bath, new basement stair, and a new second-floor master suite above.
The design challenge was to conceive of an addition and renovations that would be in balanced conversation with the original house without dwarfing or competing with it. The new cross-gable addition echoes the original house form, at a somewhat smaller scale and with a simplified more contemporary exterior treatment that is sympathetic to the old house but clearly differentiated from it.
Renovations included the removal of replacement vinyl windows by others and the installation of new Pella black clad windows in the original house, a new dormer in one of the son’s bedrooms, and in the addition. At the first-floor interior intersection between the existing house and the addition, two new large openings enhance flow and access to daylight/view and are outfitted with pairs of salvaged oversized clear-finished wooden barn-slider doors that lend character and visual warmth.
A new exterior deck off the kitchen addition leads to a new enlarged backyard patio that is also accessible from the new full basement directly below the addition.
(Interior fit-out and interior finishes/fixtures by the Owners)

Photography by Angle Eye Photography
Mid-sized elegant brown two-story stone gable roof photo in Philadelphia
Mid-sized elegant brown two-story stone gable roof photo in Philadelphia

Two small and deteriorated bathrooms were combined to create one grand spa-like bathroom. For privacy, a roof monitor was built housing six Velux skylights. The his and her shower at left is zero threshold, and glass doors allow full access. Separate vanities at opposite ends of the bath and separate closets were provided by architect Doug Walter and Creative Remodeling. Philip Wegener Photography

Angle Eye Photography
Elegant beige two-story mixed siding gable roof photo in Philadelphia
Elegant beige two-story mixed siding gable roof photo in Philadelphia

The project’s starting point was to understand the building’s original post and beam structure and to use that internal logic to formulate a sympathetic remodel. With an emphasis on the upper back unit, the owner’s private residence within this recently purchased Edward Killingsworth triplex, the first order of business was to strip the excess out and to return the complex to something that resembled the original. With a limited budget, the tact was to restore where possible, and to insert where needed, but always with a sympathetic eye. The kitchen quickly became the primary focus and it was soon realized that by removing the division between the existing galley and family room that the essence of the structural system could be revealed. Once opened the datum of the layered beams was adhered to with the kitchen reinforcing this overhead water line. The primary internal wall was then highlighted with a new wood veneer with the refrigerator recessed (borrowing a bit of space from the master closet) and the existing heater chromed.

Subsequent additions are covered with living green walls to deemphasize stylistic conflicts imposed on a 1940’s Tudor and become backdrop surrounding a kitchen addition. On the interior, further added architectural inconsistencies are edited away, and the language of the Tudor’s original reclaimed integrity is referenced for the addition. Sympathetic to the home, windows and doors remain untrimmed and stark plaster walls contrast the original black metal windows. Sharp black elements contrast fields of white. With a ceiling pitch matching the existing and chiseled dormers, a stark ceiling hovers over the kitchen space referencing the existing homes plaster walls. Grid members in windows and on saw scored paneled walls and cabinetry mirror the machine age windows as do exposed steel beams. The exaggerated white field is pierced by an equally exaggerated 13 foot black steel tower that references the existing homes steel door and window members. Glass shelves in the tower further the window parallel. Even though it held enough dinner and glassware for eight, its thin members and transparent shelves defy its massive nature, allow light to flow through it and afford the kitchen open views and the feeling of continuous space. The full glass at the end of the kitchen reveres a grouping of 50 year old Hemlocks. At the opposite end, a window close to the peak looks up to a green roof.

Angle Eye Photography
Elegant two-story stone exterior home photo in Philadelphia
Elegant two-story stone exterior home photo in Philadelphia

Angle Eye Photography
This is an example of a traditional back porch design in Philadelphia with decking and a roof extension.
This is an example of a traditional back porch design in Philadelphia with decking and a roof extension.

Photography by Angle Eye Photography
Mid-sized elegant freestanding desk dark wood floor home office library photo in Philadelphia with gray walls
Mid-sized elegant freestanding desk dark wood floor home office library photo in Philadelphia with gray walls

Situated along the perimeter of the property, this unique home creates a continuous street wall, both preserving plenty of open yard space and maintaining privacy from the prominent street corner. A one-story mudroom connects the garage to the house at the rear of the lot which required a local zoning variance. The resulting L-shaped plan and the central location of a glass-enclosed stair allow natural light to enter the home from multiple sides of nearly every room. The Arts & Crafts inspired detailing creates a familiar yet unique facade that is sympathetic to the character and scale of the neighborhood. A chevron pattern is a key design element on the window bays and doors and continues inside throughout the interior of the home.
2022 NAHB Platinum Best in American Living Award
View more of this home through #BBAModernCraftsman on Instagram.

Situated along the perimeter of the property, this unique home creates a continuous street wall, both preserving plenty of open yard space and maintaining privacy from the prominent street corner. A one-story mudroom connects the garage to the house at the rear of the lot which required a local zoning variance. The resulting L-shaped plan and the central location of a glass-enclosed stair allow natural light to enter the home from multiple sides of nearly every room. The Arts & Crafts inspired detailing creates a familiar yet unique facade that is sympathetic to the character and scale of the neighborhood. A chevron pattern is a key design element on the window bays and doors and continues inside throughout the interior of the home.
2022 NAHB Platinum Best in American Living Award
View more of this home through #BBAModernCraftsman on Instagram.

Photography by Angle Eye Photography
Example of a mid-sized classic brown two-story stone gable roof design in Philadelphia
Example of a mid-sized classic brown two-story stone gable roof design in Philadelphia

Sympathetic addition to 1940s bungalow. The addition added a great room with a covered porch outside and a family room below. In conjunction, this child's bedroom was remodeled to have a valued ceiling and a sleeping loft. Photos - S. Wirt
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