Clay Street Residence

San Francisco, CA, United States

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Clay Street Residence

San Francisco, CA, United States

Firm

Type

Residential › Private House

YEAR

2010

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

Addition 2 BR / Family Room + Remodel Kitchen / Dining and Bedroom5000sfRespecting its existing volume and character, DNM Architect inserted two new bedrooms and a large family Location: SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Addition of two bedrooms and family room + remodel of kitchen, dining room, bathroom and bedrooms to a century old San Francisco home.

Total construction area (new and old): approximately 4000sf

It is a classic problem of a classic house. A century-old stately home for a family of seven in one of San Francisco’s finest neighborhoods presented its elegant façade to the street and provided ample space for all, but, just beyond its formal main rooms was a cramped and outdated kitchen from a lifestyle extinguished decades ago. Moreover, its large formal living room’s double duty as the de-facto family room was becoming untenable for growing children, their growing friends, and their gadgets.

The kitchen was a mid-century laggard begging for an update, the unfinished basement provided an opportunity to add needed informal space for the family and guests. The dining room, while well proportioned, lacked light and the direct access to the rear deck and gardens consistent with a less formal lifestyle. Adding into the mix a seismic upgrade, new heating and insulation, and the result was to effectively tear the back off of the house and replace it with something new that appears to have always been the back of the house.

More than simply finishing off an undeveloped basement, the work on the lowest level included a 530 sf addition of within the exterior volume that once contained a wooden deck. Two new bedrooms for guests were inserted in the excavated space using insulated concrete forms (ICFs), and a metal and concrete roof were placed on top so that the dining room now opens onto a stone terrace that dominates the rear lawn. Beneath the rear of the house, center supports were removed and the framing reinforced with steel to create a 725 sf family room to house ping pong, exercise equipment and a home entertainment center. Embedded into the new concrete slab are hydronic tubes for efficient and comforting heating and the floors are finished in understated and low maintenance travertine tile. The connection between the new family room and rest of the house was reinforced by opening the cramped passage to the original back staircase downstairs and creating a light-filled, paneled, homework space upstairs that joins the kitchen.

The kitchen is not just the heart of the home, it is the heart of the project. The previous kitchen was cut into three awkward spaces: the main kitchen, a service pantry adjacent to the dining room, and an enclosed porch that served as an ad hoc – and unheated – breakfast room. Combining these spaces into a single spacious room required the reconstruction of the two story structure on top of the new bedrooms and demolition of some interior walls. A large central island organizes the space into the cooking and the consuming sides with a 36” 6-burner gas cooktop anchoring one side of the island and a flat screen TV hidden behind sliding doors on the other side. All of the appliances and technology that one might expect in such a large home – refrigerator, freezer, wine storage, two dishwashers, trash compactor, wall ovens, microwave, warming oven and refrigerated produce drawers – are present but hidden behind the custom made rift-sawn Oak cabinetry. A glass wall cabinet set in front of new fixed windows on the west wall illuminates glassware and dishes, satisfying the client’s desire for both storage and light while recalling the earlier sunporch.

In comparison with the basement and the kitchen construction, the dining room was almost easy: remove a three story unreinforced brick chimney containing the original coal burning fireplaces, insert a steel moment frame and shear wall, add 12’ patio doors to the terrace with a new fireplace, insert LED cove lighting around the perimeter, and replace the cove and other moldings throughout so that the end result appears as the original room, re-imagined with fresh natural light and a direct connection to the yard. In the place of the constricting butler pantry, a 4’ x 8’ pocket door discretely meets the client’s request for a formal dining room that does not sacrifice openness into the kitchen.

While the house’s total area was increased by 17%, its monthly energy bills were actually cut substantially through a variety of low tech and high tech strategies. The approximately 25 year-old boiler and hot water heater were replaced by a very high-efficiency condensing boiler and storage tank that provides domestic hot water as well as heat for the new hydronic heating system and original radiators. Insulated concrete forms were chosen for the new subterranean construction to provide insulation and reduce construction waste. All new lighting uses either compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) or LED; the remaining lights had almost all been retrofitted with CFLs previously. New windows are double glazed and new walls and floors are insulated, of course, however, closed cell foam insulation was also injected into the wall cavities of the remaining exterior walls to upgrade the thermal envelope of the entire house. Finally, a 2KwH photovoltaic array, grid tied to the local utility, augments the energy savings with production.

The appeal of an elegant old home is its ability to link us to our heritage and, by association, to express our values to a larger world. The home speaks of stability, family, taste, appreciation of a benign nature, and the balance between our roles as individuals and members of a like-minded community. It is neither required, nor relevant, however, that an older home actually functions in the way it did when first built. In fact, to maintain its appeal and function as an expression of our values, the house should function as well for its current occupants as it did for its original occupants in the context of their time. Traditional wood frame construction offers an almost “plastic” media that permits the house to accommodate generations of families, appliances, technologies and lifestyles.

The current occupants of this house have altered the interior and gently molded the rear façade to accommodate their own 21st century needs while restoring and honoring the heritage of the house, the street and the neighborhood. By doing so, their modern comfort in the house today is precisely the same as the level of comfort of the original occupants within the context of their own time. Through remodeling the mechanics of the house, its sociological role is restored, and – to adapt an old cliché – it demonstrates that sometimes the only constant is change.room at the basement level of this stately San Francisco home, expanded the kitchen and remodeled the dining room, a bathroom and two top floor bedrooms. The quarter sawn Oak kitchen cabinets are custom made by a local craftsman.The traditional detailing elegantly conceals an extensive steel and concrete substructure that permits the home's large open spaces in a seismically active region. The project also includes many energy saving measures including a new ultra high efficiency heating system, solar panels, insulation of the existing wall cavities, and LED lighting.All photos (c) 2011 Edward Caldwell, photographer.