2005 PALLADIO AWARDS

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE:
ADAPTIVE REUSE/SYMPATHETIC ADDITION
WINNER: BARNES VANZE ARCHITECTS

Farmhouse Retreat

Project: Farmhouse Addition, The Plains, VA
Architect: Barnes Vanze Architects, Washington, DC; Anthony (Ankie) Barnes, AIA, partner in charge; Timothy Clites, AIA, project architect
Interior Design: Victoria Neale Interiors, Washington, DC
General Contractor: Walnutdale Building Co., The Plains, VA

Take one charming 1918 farmhouse located on 32 rolling acres and make it suitable not only for use by a family of five but also for entertaining large crowds of people. Those were the two main goals when Barnes Vanze Architects of Washington, DC, was given the project in The Plains, VA, 30 miles outside of DC. Construction was completed in June 2003 and the updated 6,315-sq.ft. residence can now accommodate up to 100 for cocktails and up to 15 overnight guests.

Barnes Vanze Architects of Washington, DC, removed the existing kitchen and mudroom from the back of this 1918 farmhouse near The Plains, VA, and fanned the house out, adding 1,845 sq.ft., including an expansive wraparound porch. Large windows maximize the views of the hills and paddocks of the working horse farm. The architects continued the existing stone foundation, stucco and standing-seam copper roof into the addition. The second-floor gables, the children’s bedrooms, are connected by an open porch. All photos by Anice Hoachlander, Hoachlander-Davis Photography, Washington, DC.

“We were approached by the owners who spend every weekend out there and who move out there in the summer. It is really their family home, and it’s also a working horse farm,” says Anthony (Ankie) Barnes, AIA, partner in charge at Barnes Vanze. “We removed a small kitchen in the back and fanned the house out to make it work for the family and for lots of guests.”

Barnes Vanze added 1,845 sq.ft. of space to the house, including a wraparound porch, and rearranged the existing interior rooms to create comfortable traffic patterns between the old and new spaces and between the indoors and outdoors. The architects also added a new carriage house, which fulfills the combined functions of garage, guesthouse and tractor shed, to coordinate with the home.

“The first floor had to function comfortably as a family house and it also had to be suitable for entertaining 100 people,” says Tim Clites, AIA, project architect. “We accomplished this by putting at least two entrances in every room to create circulation between the rooms. Easy access to the porches from most of the rooms also encourages circulation.”

The original house was intact and structurally sound. The windows, entry portico, shutters, roof and columns were restored. The new carriage house sits to the right behind the house and at the edge of the paddocks. “The farmhouse has a stone foundation and a rather unusual roof line,” Barnes explains. “We kept the original front façade, replaced the original painted tin roof with standing-seam copper that continues over the addition as well. The original roof had concealed gutters that had been enclosed years ago, but we liked the traditional flare they introduced at the soffit/eave line and we continued that at the addition as well.”

On the first floor, the layout of front rooms – an entry hall, living room, dining room and sun porch – stayed mostly the same, except for the living and dining room switching sides of the house to have the dining room closer to the new kitchen. A large family room, breakfast room, wraparound porch and mudroom were added to the back of the house. In addition, an office was moved – a sitting room off the kitchen took its place.

The new open kitchen is centered within the breakfast and sitting rooms, the latter of which incorporates an original fireplace and bar area. The antique heart pine flooring in this area was supplied by Cochran’s Lumber and Millwork of Berryville, VA. The island and the breakfast room table are made of Scrumpy Jack from Mountain Lumber of Ruckersville, VA, planks that were recycled from European cider vats. One of the unique features of the kitchen is the mouse-proof pantry. The walls and the back of the door are wrapped invisibly in stainless steel to keep mice from entering. “Not a single mouse has made it into this room,” says Barnes.

“It’s a galley kitchen,” he adds, “with circulation to rooms on either side.” An enclosed porch, the new mudroom, is on another side. Many country houses have been added to over the years, which informed the architects’ work. A window above the kitchen sink looks out into the mudroom, giving the impression that the mudroom was a later addition, as well as adding light. Barnes Vanze put skylights in the mudroom porch and a transom window above the cabinets, for additional light.

“The other thing we did in the spirit of making the house look renovated was to bump out the center of the rear family room,” Clites points out. “The idea was to make it look like it was extended. From the house to the porch, the floor changes from antique heart pine to flagstone and the ceiling changes from plaster with traditional crown moldings to a beamed and planked ceiling.”

The expansive porch wraps around three sides of the house, providing views of the hills and paddocks and permitting easy access between the interior and the exterior.

One of the most significant features of the house is the new 900-sq.ft. wraparound porch that extends the length of the rear of the house (the north side) and the west façade. It also stretches around to part of the east façade, terminating at the new mudroom. This permits access to the porch from almost all of the rooms in the home, including the previously existing sun porch as well as the new office, family room and mudroom.

Barnes Vanze used a lot of glass in the new rooms in the back of the house. Large 3x6-ft. double-hung windows across the rear façade – the family room and the breakfast room – provide views of the fields. These windows are positioned only 15 in. above the floor for maximum light and views. “The real views are there,” says Clites, “which is why we added the porch and windows.”

Another addition to the first floor was the new staircase in the center of the house from the children’s bedrooms on the second floor into the kitchen. Double arches leading from the entry into the family room are positioned where the back of the house used to be, providing access between the old and the new portions. The staircase is tucked between the two arches and features fan-shape treads, a balustrade and newel-post details to match the original stair. “The arches entice you into the new space,” says Barnes.

On the second floor, most of the front of the house was left unchanged. It consisted of a sleeping porch that was restored to its original condition, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Two children’s bedrooms and a common room, which opens onto a deck, were added to the back of the house.

Formerly a storeroom/playroom, the third floor now consists of a large room with five built-in bunk beds, three trundle beds and a new bathroom. Two window seats were also added. “We were originally going to tuck a bathroom in the back here,” says Barnes, “but during construction we saw that the view out the back was so spectacular that we changed course. We moved the bathroom to the side to keep the view open on this floor. Eight children can now sleep in this room.”

Located off the northeast porch of the main house is the new garage/guesthouse. It was designed in a barn vernacular with carriage-style garage doors and dovecotes; board-and-batten siding tie into the existing barn, while copper roof and stone details, and a fence, connect it to the house. It includes two tractor bays in the back and a two-car garage in the front on the ground floor. The second floor is a 900-sq.ft. guest cottage, with one bedroom, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a large room. Period-style garage doors supplied by Designer Doors of River Falls, WI, complete the authentic detailing. “We used a bit of stone and one old beam to give the appearance of age,” says Clites.

“You can see the façade of the guesthouse as you drive up a long road to the front of the house,” says Barnes. “It looks as it has always been there.”

Construction on this project started in the winter of 2000 and was completed in the summer of 2003. The addition was successful in achieving its goal of accommodating both a family of five as well as large groups. It also successfully updated an almost-100-year-old farmhouse into a comfortable, contemporary home. – Martha McDonald

 

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