Colleen Healey melds old and new for historic DC house renovation

Colleen Healey Structure has revamped a house on a radial lot dealing with Washington DC’s Logan Circle, retaining historic particulars whereas updating the areas for up to date dwelling.

The renovated eight-bedroom home fronts Logan Circle, one of many metropolis’s grand rotaries that connects a number of main avenues, created as a part of engineer Pierre L’Enfant’s unique masterplan.

As a result of its location, the strains of the constructing’s plan are subtly radial and subsequently none of its partitions are parallel to at least one one other.

This proved a problem for native architect Colleen Healey, who had no alternative however to embrace this and incorporate the bizarre parameters into the design.

“The results of the radial lot not solely knowledgeable design choices, however offered inspiration for rounded references and different geometric subtleties,” stated the studio.

Inbuilt 1883, the house’s three-story entrance part as soon as comprised an entry corridor, dwelling and eating room on the bottom ground, an proprietor’s suite and two spare bedrooms on the primary ground, and two additional bedrooms on the second.

The rear part is ready at half ranges and options smaller rooms and decrease ceiling heights.

“A lot of the unique components and bones of the home had been in nice form and our purchasers desired a mixture of historic appeal and trendy upgrades,” stated Healey.

The again portion obtained probably the most consideration through the renovation, remade because the “coronary heart of the home” the place a big kitchen includes a U-shaped quartzite counter and a backyard room faces the patio.

Skylights had been created within the roof, permitting gentle to clean down unique brick partitions and thru gaps between picket ground joists uncovered above the kitchen.

Because the partitions are positioned at angles, wooden flooring was laid diagonally on this space.

An arched opening between the 2 sections of the home was prolonged to 10 ft, permitting a powder room and space for storing to be added behind its plaster surfaces.

“A brand new completed decrease stage and current bogs are upgraded with a mixture of classic and industrial appeal, mixing tastes of each purchasers and utilizing components unique to the home each time potential,” Healey stated.

The upstairs bedrooms and bogs retained their darkish wooden window trims and shutters, baseboards and ornate fireplaces, however are refreshed with vibrant white partitions and up to date lighting fixtures.

Nevertheless, within the main suite, the hearth was eliminated to make approach for a widened headboard and artwork wall.

Within the remaining rooms, objects belonging to the purchasers are mixed with mid-century furnishings and minimal lighting to distinction the historic particulars.

“The result’s a contemporary sensibility that unites the outdated and new areas and creates a putting juxtaposition with the house’s structure,” the group concluded.

This is not the primary time that Colleen Healey Structure has labored with an atypical lot. The studio beforehand restored and expanded an early Twentieth-century carriage home in Maryland, on a web site formed like a smoking pipe.