Boulder, Colorado - M. Gerwing Architects blog posts for M. Gerwing Architects
architect boulder
Another in a series of posts of some of the remarkable architects that were working in Boulder, Colorado in the 1960s. This was a particularly fruitful time for questioning the received notions of residential design and Boulder's building boom allowed some of the more talented local architects to experiment with new forms, materials and most notably, new sets of relationships between the house and landscape.
1627 front
This project is a large studio building added to an existing 1880's Second Empire style, Victorian era house in west Boulder. An older, 1970's era studio was located in the same location as the new addition, but its connection to the existing house masked the original houses porch and overshadow the older portion of the house.
The new studio addition, while large, attempts to make subtle connections back to the original older home, using design aspects of the older house, specifically the mansard-set dormers, as cues for creating the new structure. The connection to the new studio is pushed farther back from the front of the entry porch allowing the older structure to set itself apart more distinctly. The interior of the connection between the old house and the new studio combines aspects of both new and old, revealing the old stone exterior walls on the new interior passage.
1627 passage
Overall, the entire design adheres to the best practices of historic preservation - saving and preserving the old while letting the new relate to, but not copy, the original construction.
1627 dormer
Project Architect: Mark Gerwing, AIA
Builder: Cottonwood Custom Builders, Jeff Hindman and Tom Roberts project supervisors
2044 exist house 01
The renovation of this historic Boulder house was part of a larger development project adding 8 additional units in five buildings on this large, sprawling near-downtown lot.
The existing 1890's house was converted into two separate condominium units, one upstairs, one downstairs, utilizing all the existing entries and windows to preserve the character of the structure. Extensive structural reconstruction was executed after a complete analysis of the existing building was conducted. The existing rubble stone foundation was repaired and replaced where required and a new internal roof structure was installed to stablize the large gable roofs of the house. Front-facing existing windows were modified to meet new exiting requirements and maintain their historic materials and character.
2044 old windows
The resulting building carefully preserves all of the character-defining aspects of the existing house while adapting it to the demands of the development project and 21st century living. Our extensive knowledge, experience and familiarity with the City of Boulder's Landmark's designation regulations and demolition ordinance allowed us to design a project that both satisfies the desire for preservation and the need for renovation.
