The result is a modern sensibility that unites the old and new spaces and creates a striking juxtaposition with the home’s architecture. The home’s furnishings lean contemporary, mingling items belonging to the clients with mid-century pieces and minimalist lighting, all selected by Healey. “Instead of blocks coming down between the skylights, they act as bellies to bounce the light down,” Healey says. “We left the joists in place you can see the 138-year-old post-and-pin construction that connected them.” A sleek glass-and-metal railing on the second floor surrounds the open section of flooring for safety the skylights are delineated by a curving, sculptural framework of plaster that creates a ribbon effect. In the dogleg, the architect got more creative: She installed three skylights in the roof deck to illuminate the second floor, then “peeled back” a section of the second-floor floorboards directly below “to wash light down the brick wall on the first floor,” she explains. Healey replaced a stained-glass skylight over the stairs with clear glass that illuminates the front rooms on three stories. Ten-foot-deep archways connect the front of the house with the kitchen one conceals the powder room while the other holds a shallow wall of pantry cupboards.Ī major goal was to bring in natural light. “The U created the cabinet and counter space they wanted.” A wall of exposed brick and black-framed, steel-look sliders along the back imparts an industrial vibe. “Every other scheme needed walls we didn’t have,” the architect notes. The cabinets are configured in a U shape that preserves three carved, floor-to-ceiling windows that the owners love. The couple specified a modern kitchen, so Healey designed minimalist cabinetry out of ash-it contrasts with the backdrop of restored chestnut millwork and new heart pine flooring. Accessed via the third-floor rooms, a rooftop deck with a hot tub crowns the structure. The dogleg’s second story now contains a bathroom, guest room, laundry and nursery (the couple have since welcomed a baby). Healey retained just enough of the hallway wall to install an inner door of glass and metal eight feet from the back entrance, forming a mudroom. A load-bearing brick wall that bisected the room became a two-sided gas fireplace, shared with the sitting area. Healey overhauled the two-story dogleg to make way for an open kitchen/sitting area on the ground floor. Reconfiguring the third floor created a home office and a spare bedroom and bath. They really took preserving the property to heart.” Upstairs, the design team enlarged the owners’ suite by appropriating the neighboring bedrooms for a new bath and closet. “That’s something people think is going to cost less but doesn’t. ![]() “The wife wanted to salvage every door and doorknob,” Healey relates. Most of the work in the main-floor front rooms entailed cleaning up existing elements such as the chestnut millwork, stained-glass windows, carved-pine staircase and heart pine floor. Because this portion had been poorly renovated in the past, says Healey, “I knew any manipulation to the original home was going to happen in the dogleg.” A two-story dogleg in back housed the kitchen, sitting area and a hallway leading to the back door, with two bedrooms upstairs. ![]() ![]() Prior to the renovation, the home’s three-story front section comprised an entry hall, living and dining rooms on the first floor, the owners’ suite and two spare bedrooms on the second floor and two more bedrooms on the third. And the clients were very much on board with that.” “Colleen and I felt that the house will be there long after our clients move on we couldn’t tear out for ego what has been there for 100 years. “It was a collaborative effort,” Allen recalls. She and her husband, who is in finance, had consulted with AllenBuilt Inc., during the house search when they purchased the home, principal John Allen recommended architect Colleen Healey for the task of protecting its 1883 bones while adding 21st-century comforts and functionality. Not surprisingly, the unrenovated, eight-bedroom house was crying out for an update. And it was an opportunity to actually live on the circle and have that beautiful park for a front yard.” “It was striking, with much of the architecture and charm intact,” recounts the wife, a lawyer. Today, almost all of these historic dwellings have been converted into condos-so when a couple came across one of the few single-family homes left on the circle while house hunting, they jumped at it. Perfect Balance - On stately Logan Circle in Northwest DC, venerable Victorian homes fan out from a verdant, tree-canopied center.
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