Merit Award: Historic Collaboration

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An elegant and immanently livable design melds old and new in this addition to a 1902 Queen Anne home.

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Location: Takoma Park, Md.

Contractor: David Merrick, Merrick Design and Build, Kensington, Md.

Designer: Jeffery Broadhurst, Broadhurst Architects, Rockville, Md.

The addition to this historic 1902 Queen Anne residence “represents the confluence of many things we like in a project,” architect Jeffery Broadhurst says. “A wonderful and well-cared for historic home, energetic and analytical clients who respect that historic house and the neighborhood but have great interest in finding an appropriate way to make that house their home, and a talented and collaborative contractor who can make it real.”

To lessen the street-side visual impact, the addition is designed entirely in the back of the structure. But since the new work would be visible from oblique street views and other neighborhood vantage points, the designer was careful to be respectful to the original residence. The judges noted this, commenting on the “tasteful integration of the old with the new.” The project also has been recognized by Montgomery Preservation, the local historic preservation organization.

The design is organized around the new “second front door” and entry hall on the side of the house in the area that makes the transition in the massing between old and new. The single-story addition includes an open-plan kitchen, a family room, and a breakfast room that sits within an enclosed portion of the new rear porch.

The judges liked the home’s color palette and felt that it is not only “immanently livable” but is a “head-turner.”

—Stacey Freed, senior editor, REMODELING.