Modest Modern

An affordable small modern addition to, and renovation of, a historic small 1910 Queen Anne Houston Heights Residence

This project involved a 1200 square foot modern addition to a historic / protected 1910 Queen Anne house of about 1500 square feet in the Houston Heights.

The addition involved a completely new kitchen and breakfast area, reworked first floor living areas, and the addition of second floor children’s rooms, playroom, baths, laundry and mechanical spaces.

The design maintains the luxurious spatial character of the existing rear yard, preserving both a large live oak and 100 year old magnolia tree, by compressing the new addition to the rear of the existing house while opening up several new diagonal site lines that vastly expand and integrate site lines from inside to out. A new small swimming pool was added to the side yard, adding specific zone functionality, while allowing the back yard to stay a large open, shaded space, – which is the exact opposite of new homes in the neighborhood that build to all the lot lines. Here spatial quality, place, calmness, and shade are the considerations.

The owners wanted a thoroughly modern addition, but keeping with the existing historic house: existing proportions and datums were translated as part of the new design, and the scale then varied. New and old materials were blended and often reinterpreted: The historic wood siding being updated on the addition by use of Gendai siding (pending).

This modest project is intended be an affirmation of the Epicurean: Smaller and Finer are better, and more Obtainable for More People than the bombastic builder type house.