Perched on a high hill in Greenwich, Conn., this beautiful property finally has a house worthy of its location.
The original house was large but lacked presence. Though the architect's first thought at seeing the 1958 house was that it should be torn down, the owner liked the U-shaped floor plan that embraces an entry courtyard, and wanted to upgrade the original French style.
“The more we looked, the more we thought that the original pavilions surrounding the courtyard did have some merit and an interesting form,” says architect Douglas VanderHorn of Hilton-VanderHorn Architects, in Greenwich, Conn.
“The root problem with the house was that it had no hierarchy. There was no substantial portion to hold the wings,” he says. “It needed a really strong center to hold it all together.”
The wooded property is bordered on one side by reserved land that will never be developed. The client wanted a beautiful country retreat in that ideal setting, but he also considered this property an investment and wanted marketable changes. “It is a prominent property on a very good street, near a country club. To capitalize on the long-term investment, [the client] built more house than he would need,” VanderHorn says. The remodel added about 2,000 square feet to the house.
Several inappropriate additions over the years had stripped the home of its original charm. According to the contractor, Kelly Wright of Wright Brothers Builders in nearby Westport, the additions were also clad in different types of brick, none of which matched the brick used on the front façade.
Photo Credit: Steve Turner Aerial Photography
Wright Brothers Builders signed the contract with the homeowner before the construction documents were completed. “This was so that we could start demolition while they were finalizing the interior drawings,” he says.
HIGH HOPES
To create a more distinct French look and to add height and weight to the center portion of the house, VanderHorn designed a story-and-a-half addition across the entire floor. He also replaced a bland sunroom on the side of the house with a more authentic structure and incorporated a few smaller additions to improve the main floor plan.
VanderHorn topped the whole house with a new steep hipped roof and added two tall chimneys on either side of it. “We added a great deal of verticality. The stacking of architectural elements at the entry door helps emphasize that verticality,” the architect says.
New salmon-colored brick, tall casement windows with shutters, and slate roofing give the house dramatic curb appeal. “Some slate changes color and becomes variegated. We chose this slate because it will not do that, as traditional French slate is very monochromatic. It also gives the house a more formal appearance,” VanderHorn explains.
In this new, structured floor plan, all the formal areas, including this living room, can be accessed from the entry hall. Full-height interior and exterior entries with transoms add detail and light to the room.
Photo Credit: Woodruff/Brown Architectural Photographers
“We had such a steeply pitched roof that we had potential for additional space,” VanderHorn says. The attic floor has a large media room and an additional bedroom suite.
The windows on the back of the house were enlarged and replaced with French doors with transoms. The attic has large dormers to take advantage of the rear views.
VanderHorn says a past sunroom addition lacked architectural character and had a jarring barrel roof that immediately dated the structure as being built in the early 1980s.
“In many homes, you can date the additions. We try to create a new classic that can't be dated. To do that, you have to stick to the style of the house and not mix and match details,” he says. To maintain the integrity of the French theme, VanderHorn replaced the sunroom with a new structure that has French doors set between lattice panels, oval windows in the angled walls, and a classic balustrade on the top deck.
About halfway through the work, the homeowner added site work and a pool pavilion renovation to the project. “Our scope of work grew substantially with exterior walls and plantings, but we still stayed within 15% of original budget,” Wright says. This was possible because the project manager was able to negotiate good pricing for several components, including roofing, brick, and HVAC, and the firm also competitively bid a number of prime subcontracts.
DEFINING THE FLOWThe interior of the house was completely gutted — including the removal of padded, pleated fabric walls. “The walls looked like a quilt,” VanderHorn says. “Almost every room had [fabric] on the walls and it was on some of the ceilings as well.”
Wright and his team upgraded the home's mechanical and plumbing systems. “And the deterioration of the existing electrical system was worse than we projected, so we ended up redoing all of it,” he says.
The renovation included updating the kitchenette and changing room pavilions near the pool with roofs that echo the roof shape of the main house. The structures also have new French doors and transoms. A pergola and a fireplace provide a space for outdoor entertaining
Photo Credit: Woodruff/Brown Architectural Photographers
His team also discovered mismatched floor structures in some areas of the main house and had to reinforce the exterior walls where they removed ceiling joists. “The additions were poorly done, about 40 years ago. The ceiling heights did not match — there were parts where it went up and they had put soffits over the area to conceal it,” Wright says. “In other areas there was a 2-inch step down for the addition.”
The gutted interior provided a blank slate. VanderHorn's design emphasis was on circulation. “The house had been added to and changed so much, it had no formal circulation left — one room led into another,” he says. Now the main hall acts as a central core with two doorways on either side that lead to the library, dining, living, and family rooms. The core also holds a new “flying spiral” staircase that replaces the oak stairway, which did not fit the French theme. “The old staircase had a wall underneath. This one does not, which is more dramatic and makes the area feel spacious,” VanderHorn says.
The team did preserve two details from the original living room, now the dining room: the parquet floor and the marble mantel. “The inlaid floor was too thin to pull out and reuse,” Wright says. “We protected it with Masonite and plastic.”
The right wing was updated with a library and guest suite with its own entrance, entry hall/parlor, enclosed garden, bedroom, bath, and closets. VanderHorn describes it as a “home within a home.”
The kitchen is in the south wing, which is also the location for the light-filled family room, breakfast area, and octagonal mudroom. This wing adjoins the pool terrace, with access to the tennis court and putting green.
Photo Credit: Woodruff/Brown Architectural Photographers
This wing also has three garage bays and an upper deck that leads off one of the bedroom suites on the second floor center addition. The left wing is primarily a service wing with a mudroom, laundry, powder room, staff suite, and a back stairway.
Project Details
Project scope: A substantial — almost two-story — addition, plus upgrades to the exterior and main floor plan of a 1958 house
Square footage before: 11,500 square feet
Square footage after: 13,400 square feet
Duration of project: 2 years
Architects: Douglas A. VanderHorn, design partner and Tony Kastor, project architect, Hilton-VanderHorn Architects, Greenwich, Conn.
Contractor: Kelly Wright, and project superintendent Jeff Hoffman, Wright Brothers Builders, Westport, Conn.