New House Case Study, No. 1

With a strong background in historic preservation, most of my architectural commissions involve improvements to existing houses or apartments.  It is a process that I enjoy, and I get great satisfaction from comparing successful "After" to the miserable "Before".  But I also design new houses.  Some of these new residences have not been realized, however.  Well, not yet anyway.  The Devoted Classicist thought readers might enjoy an occassional glimpse at these classic residential designs that will be place in the category New House Case Study.  A brief look will be presented on an infrequent basis, in no particular order, and arbitrarily numbered.  So here we go with the first, which we will call No. 1.

All of my houses, especially the new ones, have a strong connection to their landscape setting.  This house was designed to suit the site, a pie-shaped parcel in the curve of the road.  A former horse farm in a desirable area was being redeveloped for a variety of uses with this section being divided into small lots with houses close together.  This site was an exception, however, because it splayed so wide to the rear.  The small front was to be completely occupied by a circular motor court with the angled wings of the main block of the house embracing it, leaving a larger-than-usual gargen to be fully developed for the rear as the owners are avid gardeners.  The treeless pasture was essentially a blank slate.  All these perimeter parcels are walled, so the site would be essentially its own private setting despite the relatively small size.

The basic program for the house was similar of many in the suburbs.  There was to be four bedrooms with the Master being on the ground floor.  The square footage is about 2,700 square feet, not including a double garage.  The design intent was to provide a viable alternate to the typical subdivision house, offering studied proportions and scale for eye-pleasing, functional results at a competitive price.