New Old House

We are fortunate to have architects and designers who care deeply about creating houses that fit well within their surroundings. New old house architects don’t create boxes that compete with the neighbors but rather design in the context of the site and neighborhood. In this issue of New Old House, we focus on American house styles that fit into their settings seamlessly—whether it is a Shingle-style cottage on the coast of Connecticut or a farmhouse deep in horse country in Virginia. For instance, architect Donald Lococo’s clients wanted to tear down and replace a 1920s barn with a new home. But when Lococo saw the beautiful old structure, he began a campaign to save the barn and build a nearby home that reflected the beauty of the barn. The homeowners ultimately…

Editor-at-Large Russell Versaci is a residential architect who has spent two decades designing traditional houses. He attended the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1973 and received his graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts in 1979. He has designed traditional country houses, cottages, and farmhouses, as well as restorations and significant additions to period homes. Versaci is also the author of Creating a New Old House and Roots of Home (Taunton Press). Mary Grauerholz is a freelance feature writer who focuses on sustainability, architecture, health, and food. In her previous career as a journalist, Grauerholz won many awards for project management, editing, and writing. Since then, she has written for a variety of magazines, newspapers, and websites, including The Boston Globe, Cape Cod Home,…

Architect Heidi Richardson of Mill Valley, California-based, Richardson Architects faced some unusual restrictions in designing the renovation of a two-story bungalow set in a redwood grove in the firm’s hometown. Since the residence—largely unchanged since it was built as a summer retreat in 1890—is on the city’s Historic Residence List, she was barred from changing much of the exterior. The original 1,700 square feet consisting of a living room, den, two bedrooms, and kitchen could not be substantially transformed to accommodate the extra 1,200 square feet the residents, a family of four, wanted to add to the now yearround home. That additional space— to include a family room, dining room, master suite, and mudroom—had to be attached to the intact original in a way that would feel integrated. “You’ve got this existing…

This is not a vacation house; it is the primary residence for a young family. But since it is located on a lake, the owner wanted a sensibility that is playful, full of light and oriented toward the water. “She didn’t want a beach house,” says Jennifer Hanlon, who, along with partner David Wantuck, designed this 8,800-square-foot Wayland, Massachusetts, home, built in 2014. “But she did want to acknowledge that the water is there, and to create the feeling of a vacation home.” Hanlon and Wantuck, whose eponymous design firm is located in Duxbury, Massachusetts, have worked with this homeowner before. Therefore, they knew that while she wanted a light and airy interior in her new house, she is a thorough traditionalist when it comes to architecture. No sleek minimalism for her—she…

Bath, Maine-based Kennebec Co. is known for its handcrafted, period-inspired cabinetry. The 20-person team designs and builds custom kitchens in harmony with a home’s architectural style—spanning the 17th to 20th centuries. With the majority of their client base in New England, that means a focus on early American elements. With a nod to the builders of world-renowned ships built on the Kennebec River’s shores, Kennebec Co. employs centuries-old techniques and fine craftsmanship skills. Using hand-selected, high-quality grades of premium solid woods, traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery, and handapplied finishes, they create kitchens in keeping with a home’s history. Quarter-sawn woods; panels of plank-cut boards bearing growth rings; grain-matched drawers; handplaned and sanded surfaces with textured antique effect; and specially formulated stains and dyes all work together to create setting-sensitive cabinetry of the highest…

I recently joined the board of the Historical Society in my small town outside Boston, and in that role, I’ve been rebuilding the society’s website. This has meant scanning hundreds of pictures from the archives, and I’ll admit to you that the process is making me really depressed. It’s not the repetitive nature of the work that’s causing the problem, it’s that most of what I’m looking has disappeared. You see, Southborough, where I live, was once the second most productive agricultural town in all of Massachusetts. Here’s a description from an 1870 guide: “Southborough contains about 9,024 acres. The soil is strong, deep, gravelly loam, and very productive. The sturdy yeomanry of the town…through the lapse of her past years, converted many of her once rugged hills and valleys…