The renovation of this landmark home was exceptional due to the high level of detail and quality of construction utilized throughout the mid 1930’s home. The original home consisted of two full floors with approximately 4,000 SF per floor, as well as 1,000 SF basement and a 2,000 SF staff quarters in the third floor attic space. The original construction methods included a poured in place slab that rest upon original brick piers approximately three feet above the finish grade. The exterior and interior walls on the first and second floors are constructed of terra cotta block with plaster walls and ceilings on the interior and a brick veneer on the exterior. The second floor deck was another poured in place concrete slab that rest upon the first floor terra cotta block walls. Remarkably the only wood structure was the third floor deck and roof rafters. The original utilities throughout the home were reaching the point of failure and were in desperate need of upgrade. The entire electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems needed to be replaced and upgraded to handle the modern conveniences expected by today’s homeowners. It was very important to the current homeowners to maintain the homes landmark status and ensure that the original architectural features would remain intact and not appear as an obvious renovation.

This project consisted of completely new electrical systems, plumbing systems, and HVAC systems; new slate roofing; new copper gutters; repairs and restoration of plaster walls and ceilings; repairs and restoration of original oak floors; repairs and restoration to third floor staff quarters; repairs and restoration to convert existing basement to wine cellar; installation of elevator; addition of laundry room to first and second floors; enclosure of an existing 250 SF screen porch into living area; installation of new sound system, camera system and security system; repairs and restoration of the original carport; renovation of the original kitchen into a warming kitchen; addition of a 2,000 SF space that consisted of a grand kitchen, library, half bath, and outdoor pool bath; an outdoor kitchen; new detached garage with storage area; a new swimming pool; relocation and additional driveways; new pigeonnaire, and creating privacy/security fencing surrounding the entire property consisting of brick and wrought iron.

The original home did not have any laundry services inside the house. The laundry room was later added to an outbuilding that was demolished as part of this project. Due to the size of the home the owners did not want to haul laundry throughout the home therefore we added a washer and dryer in the new addition, on the original home’s first and second floor. Additionally, the original home had a modest kitchen, as was typical for the time period, therefore the original kitchen was remodeled into a warming kitchen for entertaining. The owners love to cook and wanted to have a statement kitchen, so we added a gourmet kitchen that consisted of two 60” BlueStar ranges, a 48” BlueStar range, two Wolf steamers, two Wolf fryers, two 48” Sub-Zero refrigerators, a rotisserie, two Asko dishwasher, Wolf microwave, Sub-Zero Refrigerator doors, custom built stainless steel countertop with integrated stainless steel sink and custom decorative stainless steel hood. The original wood floors were rifted and quartered sawn oak floors and for the repairs and additions we needed to match the original floors. The renovation consisted of remodeling two master bathrooms on the second floor. The new bathrooms would contain floor to ceiling Marble walls, with marble baseboards, marble crown molding and marble floors. The showers have handmade marble tile inserts and the plumbing fixtures are finished in 24 karat gold.

The basement, which was originally designed as a bomb shelter, was to be converted into a new wine room. The first step was to add an elevator that would travel from the basement, through the first and second floors and finally end in the third-floor attic space. A new foyer area was created for the elevator, the walls were water-proofed, and reclaimed wood floors from the 1860’s were installed on the concrete ceiling to provide the appearance of wood flooring from above. The cabinets were constructed of reclaimed material and brick floors were added to finish the reclaimed space. Two stand-alone wine cabinets were added as well as two under-counter beverage centers.

The new outdoor kitchen was constructed of double brick walls with a slate shingle gable roof. The cooking area consists of a gaucho grill with a true masonry fireplace chimney, ice maker, sink and Green Egg.