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Harold Forrest Dietrich Architects LLC Transforming Houses Into HomesSM 1411 Berkley Court Deerfield, Illinois 60015 847.945.0921 |
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Historic Houses Historic Houses Transformed
American Shelter Lester Walker In the early years of the 20th C., the bungalow became the dominant house type in the Chicago area. The bungalow’s combination of modest size, coziness, lasting materials, and rich details made a house that was inexpensive yet rich. Bungalows have received a lot of attention of late and are now viewed as a treasured resource in the Chicago area. The annual Chicago Bungalow Expo draws together thousands of people interested in updating and preserving their bungalow home. Bungalows Transformed
American Shelter Lester Walker The ranch house became increasingly popular throughout the country because of its ease of construction, low cost and efficient floor plan. We learned that the great disadvantage of the ranch has had much to do with that efficient floor plan. In many cases, rooms became hallways and there were no middle ground spaces between the public realm of the living and dining rooms and the private realm of the bedrooms. One of the truly special features of these ranch houses is their expandability, especially vertically. Unfortunately, in the process of adding a 2nd floor, many ranches have ended up with the aluminum sided space ship landed on the original house. As part of the addition process our preferred approach is to provide a new look for the ranch. In this way, we can ensure the resulting transformation is studied and holistic rather than piecemeal and violent. Ranches Transformed
Split Level American Shelter Lester Walker The ubiquitous split was perhaps livable but certainly, in the hands of so many builders, quite mediocre in its style and appeal. The split is also a house type that didn’t easily accommodate changes either to its interior configuration nor when added onto. Splits that have been expanded vertically are often designed such that the addition is readily apparent – it is just another box added on top of the other boxes. When we expand a split we look to disguise the level changes or to carry through the inherent details of the existing. Again, we prefer that our work be sympathetic to, rather than violently clash with, what was before us.
Split Levels Transformed
Capes American Shelter Lester Walker Capes can be seen all across America, as it is a house type that conjures for us dreams of seaside holidays and flower gardens surrounded by white picket fences. Because of the Cape’s roofline and modest scale it is one of the most challenging house types to transform. We, therefore, want to ensure any addition we make to a Cape is in keeping with the scale of the existing. This holds true for both the interior spaces as well as exterior massing.
Capes Transformed
Colonials American Shelter Lester Walker The Colonial, and the Neocolonial, house has over the last 75 years been typified by a boxy and bulky massing that echoes the original colonial home. Whereas the original had environmental and economic reasons to be this shape, these reasons no longer existing in the America of the 20th Century. So in transforming the Colonial we look to expand the house into its yard to breakup its mass and to give it a three dimensional quality that it previously lacked.
Colonials Transformed
Other There are a myriad of others in addition to these types. There’s the Bungalow, Tudor, French country, Arts and Crafts, Prairie, and many more.
Transformed
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