“Sometimes it’s hard to keep a house together as it gets larger,” says Mark McInturff, FAIA. “Having thematic details is the best way to do it.” Those details are elegantly conceived and executed on this ample center hall Georgian house on a corner urban lot. The most prominent repeating detail is the curved corner, expressed in four-story glory in the entry hall. Ascending from the renovated basement to the renovated attic, “the stair becomes referential,” Mark says. “You can’t move around the house without going through that space, so we made it important.”
The idea started as a way to round the corner on the old dining room, which had been octagonal. The highly crafted curve became part of the detail on the living room and dining room walls, garden walls, and staircase, where it’s rendered in white oak and white-painted steel. “We wanted the stair to be transparent and carry light through the building,” Mark says. “Each landing hovers in the stair tower, projecting the occupants into the garden.”
A reductive material palette of white brick, black metal, and mahogany windows lends coherence and crispness. Outside, the existing brick was painted white, while the addition’s walls are clad in black metal, and black standing seam metal replaced the failing slate roof.
The result is a house that, despite its size, seems fluid and uncomplicated.
Architectural Details
Citation
McInturff Architects
Georgian Modern
Washington
Project Credits
Architect: Mark McInturff, FAIA, principal in charge, McInturff Architects, Bethesda, Maryland; Colleen Healey, AIA, project architect, Colleen Healey Architecture, Washington
Builder: Jimmy Loveless, JWL Woodworking, Ijamsville, Maryland
Interior Designer: Kate Ballou, Hendrick Interiors, Washington
Landscape Architect: Lila Fendrick Landscape Architects, Bethesda
Structural Engineer: Norton Consulting Engineers, Bethesda
Metalwork: AK Metal Fabricators, Alexandria, Virginia
Project size: 7,000 square feet
site size: .27 acre
Construction cost: Withheld
Photography: Jennifer Hughes Photography
Key Products
Carpeting: Bloomsburg Carpet
Cladding: Brick; standing seam metal; mahogany
Cooktop/Range/Washer/Dryer: Miele
Countertops: Caesarstone
Doors: Dynamic Architectural
Door Hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware
Faucets: Blanco, Waterworks, Kohler
Insulation/Housewrap: ZIP System
Lighting: Illuminations
Refrigerator/Freezer: Sub-Zero
Sinks: Kohler, Ferguson
Skylights: VELUX
Tub: TOTO, Artica
Vanities: Boffi
Vent Hood: Best
Ventilation: Panasonic
Washer/Dryer: Miele
Windows: Pella
Images
Plans and Drawings
