Continuing Education: Historic Schoolhouse Becomes Home
Citation Award // Rick + Duffy Monahon Award for Design Excellence in Architectural Restoration and Preservation
Architect // Inscription Architects
GC // Kreg Jones, AIA and Danielle Jones
Description
Initials carved into windowsills and the hollows of many small feet on the stair treads are just some of the echoes of the past that were saved in this 1856 schoolhouse that found new life as a bespoke three-bedroom home. Abandoned for forty years and stripped bare save for the historic curved wooden staircase, pressed tin ceiling, and original hardwood floors, it was a perfect opportunity for an adaptive reuse project. Still there was an abundance of design challenges including creative space planning, adding a garage, and replacing the underpinning of the 1960’s library addition—the four corners of which were effectively resting on large boulders. Community members, who were concerned the building would be torn down, now knock on the door to tell stories and drop off gifts of pictures and postcards from this bygone era that’s been preserved to live into the future.
Jury Comments
“A work of faithful love by the architects and owners, the respectful conservation of the existing schoolhouse is matched by the thoughtfulness of the new interventions. The classic historical schoolhouse form is so compelling in a community, but it is still impressive that the decision was made to preserve it, restore it, and renew it. It's really a new gift to the community; we can be grateful for the risks taken to accomplish this.”
“The challenge in any kind of conversion, especially when it goes from institutional to residential, is that the domestication, so to speak, of the institutional can be challenging … so to hold on to all the virtues of the “one room-ness” becomes the mission; here this has been accomplished. The staircase connecting the two floors is a compelling element; the photographs are effective in conveying its character and effect.”
Photo credit: John Hession