2020 RDAA | Residential Special Constraints | St. Paul Residences | Snow Kreilich Architects

Designed for a couple and their disabled son, these two-of-a-kind dwellings meet the street graciously in a neighborhood of well-proportioned homes with front porches and molded railings. Their previous house, a nearby Victorian, was hard to navigate, and the new pair of homes allow the couple to live by themselves, while their young-adult son lives next door with his full-time caregivers.

The houses’ materials and massing have a subtle relationship. The gabled main house sits perpendicular to the smaller house, following the line of a wooded bluff behind it. Its buff-colored Anamosa limestone cladding is a nod to the masonry homes in the neighborhood, and copper panels wrap down over the second floor, adding contemporary warmth. Across the driveway, the son’s simpler stucco house with cedar roof, wood accents, and copper trim speaks to the community’s carriage houses. Both have recessed front porches. “The neighbors were worried about how a modern home would fit in, but we saw it as a programmatic-based house with materials that will last much longer than other building stock, and it has massing that makes sense in the community,” says project architect Tyson McElvain, AIA.

The homes also connect emotionally. Floor plans are open, accessible, and bright, with large windows and white oak floors. An office window in the main house faces the son’s house. Floor-length windows in his house return the view of the parents’ house, nature, and the street, a source of constant delight since he gets around mostly on the floor. Smart, considered, and inclusive, the houses express larger ideas about family connectivity and community.

RESIDENTIAL SPECIAL CONSTRAINTS

Citation

SNOW KREILICH ARCHITECTS
ST. PAUL RESIDENCES
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

Project Credits

ARCHITECT: Matt Kreilich, FAIA, and Julie Snow, FAIA, principals in charge; senior project architect/project manager: Tyson McElvain, AIA; project architect: Mike Heller, AIA; architect: Kar-Keat Chong, AIA; designer: Andrew Dull, Associate AIA; team member: John Steingraber, Snow Kreilich Architects, Minneapolis

BUILDER: Streeter & Associates, Wayzata, Minnesota

CONSULTING ARCHITECT: James Larson, Building Solutions, Minneapolis

INTERIOR DESIGNER: Snow Kreilich Architects

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: TVL Studio, Minneapolis

CIVIL ENGINEER: Pierce Pini & Associates, Blaine, Minnesota

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Ericksen Roed & Associates, St. Paul, Minnesota

PROJECT SIZE: 4,475 square feet (parents’ house), 2,970 square feet (son’s house)

SITE SIZE: 0.53 acres

CONSTRUCTION COST: Withheld

PHOTOGRAPHY: Gaffer Photography

Key Products

CABINETRY: Braaten Custom Cabinetry