Quirks and Courtyards: Rethinking a 100-Year-Old House
My plan to turn oddities into opportunities with the help of an extraordinary team
We first spotted the house a few months before we ended up buying it. A nearly 100-year-old beauty on a quiet, leafy street, it backs right up to a park—one of those rare finds in the city that feels like it’s been waiting for you. From the road, the house is tucked into a little enclave, set down slightly from the street, but once you’re inside, the perspective changes completely. The property opens up and the house looks out over the park, uninterrupted by the sight of another home. It feels almost infinite.
The goods
The exterior has that charming, slightly timeworn character you might expect to find in the Cotswolds: weathered and romantic, with the weight of history in its walls. Inside, it was surprisingly intact. A few renovations had happened here and there (mostly in the kitchen and primary bathroom), but the bones remained largely unchanged. The lot is over half an acre, the kind of city-meets-country space that makes you start dreaming about gardens before you’ve even signed the papers.
The quirks
This house is old, so there were some inconveniences that needed to be addressed. The house is linear in layout, almost “railroaded” from left to right, which can be tricky for creating an easy, flowing space plan. The kitchen was tucked away on the darker side of the house, under low ceilings and directly beneath the garage. Stranger still, the garage opened directly into the upstairs sleeping quarters. You’d step out of the car and be right at my daughter’s bedroom door…not exactly ideal.
The team
At first, we imagined a fairly straightforward renovation: replace what needed replacing, refresh the rest, and add a stairway from the garage down to the kitchen so you wouldn’t have to traipse through the bedrooms. But then we started working with BarnesVanze Architects, a brilliant architecture firm, and the conversation shifted. What if the kitchen moved to the back of the house, where it could overlook the park? What if we extended off the dining room instead of reworking the garage connection? And while we were at it, what if we added a fourth bedroom upstairs?
The house’s walls are thick masonry terracotta, an unusual and beautiful material that’s wonderful when left alone but expensive and complicated to alter. In the end, it made more sense to add on rather than tear into the existing structure. The addition would create an L-shaped footprint, one of my favorite layouts because of how it naturally creates a courtyard or mezzanine feel. (If I had my way every time, I’d choose a U-shape, but here, an L felt right.) There’s something about a home that wraps around you—you feel tucked in, protected, connected to the grounds. Pyramid Builders, who are collaborating on the project, were all in.
And the grounds are part of what makes this place so special. I’m working with Jennifer Horn of Horn & Company, another award-winning, female-led business I adore, to create gardens that feel wild but considered and full of discoverable moments. I want it to feel like an English garden that’s been here forever, not over-designed, but full of quiet surprises. The goal for the house is the same: for the addition to look as though it’s always been part of the home.
Right now, the house sits almost on top of the land, looking out over it. I want to change that—to make it feel as if the house and land are embracing each other. There’s even a sweet little gazebo that my husband, Matt, is irrationally (and adorably) excited about restoring. I picture it as the perfect destination for a stroll, a cup of tea, or just a quiet moment to look back at the house and think, yes, this is exactly where we’re meant to be.
As we finalize the details and go to permitting, I’ll take you through how each decision came to be with the help of this amazing team (bloopers, mishaps, and mayhem included). In our next issue, I’ll walk you through the new floor plans—and how we got there—to start putting the new footprint into perspective.
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