Landis LCC

When we first visited this vintage three story townhouse, built in 1900, it was clear that it would require a complete renovation. As both the client and the design/build remodeler for this historic whole house project, our main focus was on maximizing value, while restoring several key historically significant elements of the house.

Unusual Constraints/Challenges & Creative Solutions

Functionality

The house had 2400 square feet of space on the first, second and third floors. By digging out, waterproofing and finishing the basement, we made it into a 3000 square foot house. We restored and improved the exterior envelope of the house. This included historically accurate windows, a new roof, re-pointing, cleaning and repairing the front masonry façade, rebuilding four walls that made up the rear elevations of the house, adding a rooftop deck, and re-doing the front and rear yards. We opened up and completely remodeled the kitchen area so that it was integrated with the dining and living areas at the front of the house. We also added a half bathroom adjacent the kitchen, remodeled three bathrooms and added one additional bathroom in the basement.

We added high efficiency two zone heating and cooling systems. While the house originally had a boiler and radiators, we could not keep the system as it was completely depreciated and reduced the floor space in several key areas. We sistered all of the joists on the first, second, and third floor which allowed us to remove a central bearing wall

On the interior we restored two marble fireplaces; strengthened, leveled and restored the staircase; salvaged, reinstalled and refinished Heart of Pine floors; and restored and added antique hardware to the front door. Although we replaced all of the interior doors and trim, we selected materials that were consistent with those we removed. We redesigned the living space on the second floor to create an elegant master bedroom/bathroom suite. We integrated a laundry center on the second floor and a rear bedroom with its own bathroom. On the third level, we restored the existing floor plan, but added three closets.

Craftsmanship

Restoring the original staircase from the first to third levels was particularly challenging. The staircases were at least an inch out of level. We sistered the stringers with new LVL’s, jacked up and sistered the headers in order to level and strengthen the stairwell. We turned a number of new oak pickets to match existing ones and opened up the stairwell on the main level to increase the visual space. The existing flooring on all three levels of the house was fastened directly to the joists. In order to strengthen the flooring, we pieced in plywood sub-flooring between the joists. This strengthened the floors and added to the life span of the antique heart pine.

Use of Materials

In order to improve the energy efficiency of this house, we invested in having Icynene insulation sprayed onto the underside of the entire roof, all exterior stud bays and all exterior basement walls. This, in combination with fiberglass insulation between floors and on interior walls for soundproofing, made the project particularly tight.

We also had to underpin the two party walls in order to lower the basement. This required careful planning and execution in order to complete the work safely and effectively. In order to restore some of the front, we had to make a number of new bricks to match the existing white ones. At first we thought the bricks were limestone. When we discovered that they were solid cinderblock dipped in white concrete, we experimented and figured out how to make new matching ones on site.

Overcoming Difficulties

One of our biggest challenges was access during the project. Parking was very difficult and the rear of the house did not have alley access. Everything that came in and out of the house had to be done by hand including dirt, concrete and demolition materials, etc. The only thing we had boomed into the house is the drywall package. Working with the neighbors was also time-consuming as the house was almost a complete gut and underpinning the party walls required their written consent.

Original Uses of Materials

In addition to the brick restoration and custom pickets mentioned above, we also restored both marble fireplaces by having them polished and detailed in place. One of the fireplace mantles was so stained that we had to get a salvaged one, refinish it and install it. It matched almost perfectly. On all the doors and windows, we used Capitol Hill casing, rosettes and plinth blocks to match the character of the original casings.

Enhancing the Original Style

On the front of the house, we repaired the tin fascia and balcony details to restore the upper front portion of the house. We also replaced custom copper gutters and downspouts that drained the front roof section. We selected a decorative copper door light that featured a green patina copper
The stone work around the front window was also carefully restored and re-pointed. Two large stone details were removed and carefully reinstalled in order to level them. Parts of the front were also power washed to remove soot and stains.