The Challenge:
When the owners of One Barker Lane in Scarsdale approached the Scarsdale-based architectural design firm Hamlin Goldreyer Architects, specialists in custom residential projects, they knew they wanted to upgrade their 1924 Colonial with an expanded first floor and a formal entertainment room, a new attached garage, a large rear deck, a front porch, and a spacious new second-floor bedroom suite. Enter design partners Bart Hamlin and Deborah Goldreyer, who were able to provide that and much more. The result was not only extra space (doubling the house size), but a better and more natural function and overall flow to the house, a more centered front entry, a relocated powder room, a relocated and expanded driveway for additional parking, a relocated laundry room to allow direct access to the deck from the kitchen and breakfast room, and a new aesthetic profile that brought added character and charm. An added bonus: selecting a location for the new in-ground pool to be near the original detached garage, carefully preserved for easy conversion to a cabana.
The Solution:
How did Hamlin and Goldreyer do it? By literally wrapping the house in character and charm. No traditional addition for these architects. It was an unconventional makeover all the way. According to Hamlin, “wrapping the house” gave the early 20th-century Colonial the aesthetic charm it was intended to have.
“The project started with a 1920s house, which lacked the exterior charm of most old houses,” Hamlin says. “So, we wrapped it—like wrapping a lady of the previous century with an elegant silk shawl. We took an existing house and doubled its size by wrapping the perimeter with all the new elements requested by the homeowner. We used the opportunity to be transformative.” The makeover also proved to be unexpectedly efficient—reclaiming and using stone from the site discovered while digging for the porch and garage foundations. That made the project a wrap and a match!
What’s Next:
That was 2004. Now, this seven-bedroom, five-bath, architectural wonder is on the market for $3.295 million. Listing agents: Mary Katchis at (914) 713-2079 and Dawn Knief at (914) 393-1159 of Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty.
