The judges said that removing the shed roof addition from the original house was an inspired idea that illustrates how selective demolition can vastly improve a remodeling project. Architects Charles Moore and Shamual Choudhury removed the bathroom housed under that shed roof addition, replaced it with a flat roof, and restored the four-sided mansard roof tower so that the tower once again became the dominant element of the front façade.
The architects say the shed roof addition was just one example of small additions to the house that diminished the integrity of the 1889 Gothic Victorian style and created awkward, uncomfortable living spaces. The team wanted to restore the original form and create more usable space. Project architect Choudhury says removing the tower meant losing a bathroom, so they added another one on the back of the second floor. He says they also updated the master bedroom, so “the master suite is comparable to today's standards.”
The architects reconfigured the foyer, living room, and dining room on the main floor and added a more functional rear addition to house a new kitchen, family room, mud-room, powder room, and back stair hall. The judges liked how the scale of the addition fits the mass of the original house. “They respected the original gable with the new gable. It holds together well,” one judge noted.
Category: Old-house renovation, over $300,000
Location: Falls Church, Va.
Contractor: Jeff Beuttel, Construction Innovators, Columbia, Md.
Designer: Charles Moore and Shamual Choudhury, Moore Architects, Alexandria, Va.