Architect Graham Pohl gives his Tudor Revival home a respectful, modern makeover
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When Graham Pohl, a principal at the architecture firm Pohl Rosa Pohl, and his wife, Jane Fields, were ready to move out of their large South Hanover Avenue arts and crafts home, they were open to the possibilities. They looked out in the country. They looked downtown. They even looked at a late 1920s Tudor Revival on Fincastle Road only a stone’s throw away from where they were living at the time, a structure with which they were both immediately taken.
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In particular, Pohl liked the house’s generous windows, interesting stairwell to the second floor, the advantageous orientation and other aspects that only professional architects can discern. Stylistically, the family was attracted to the romantic lines of the house, exemplified by the steep roof sweeping down the front. They also liked the idea of not having to leave the neighborhood, and the home’s size, which was half the size of the house they were living in, was appealing, given their two sons were no longer living under the same roof.
“Our previous house is literally right around the corner, and it was a fabulous house for the period of our lives when we had the children at home.” Pohl said. “We love the location, so when the house went up – we got to keep the best of both worlds, in a way.”
[SlideDeck id='85996' width='100%' height='300px'] Pohl was sketching new concepts before closing on their new home, which they bought in 2010. In February 2011, work began to incorporate those designs into the house, a construction phase which ultimately lasted nearly 14 months.
But the long duration of time wasn’t due to completely transforming the historical residence into something new and unrecognizable, it was because of the informed and meticulous care, attention and instruction Pohl gave to integrating new additions and features into the home without perverting its original integrity, a practice Pohl’s firm has been honing for over 20 years.
“We honored the existing floorplan,” Pohl said. “I’m a modernist, but I’m also a preservationist, and I don’t think that they are mutually exclusive at all. I think they totally support one another. I think that the richest architectural environments are those in which one can see the dialogue between forms that have individual identities, but that speak to each other. The most challenging, and the most rewarding way to get that is to take an old house that has integrity and respect that integrity, and then to do new work that’s very clear about when it’s built, but that is friendly to the old work, respects it.”
Though they built a large, open addition in the rear of the house that afforded ample space for a completely new kitchen, only one significant interior wall was removed, a space which was then fitted with a convenient bar area that leads into the kitchen – and, through its design and choice of material, which includes vintage looking cabinetry reminiscent of beadboard paneling Pohl designed, represents an intentional juxtaposition between the old and the new.
“You can see looking at the plan how this is really a pivotal moment in this thing,” Pohl said. “It’s where the traditional plan begins to erode. So making that intervention seem not too modern, or not seem too traditional, was important to me... I wanted it to be respectful of the tone and the feel of the traditional parts of the house.”
The home’s new profile was also realized with a number of sustainable functions and materials, such as zero VOC paints, spray foam insulation and geothermal heating and cooling, and practices, like refinishing the existing floors instead of replacing them when possible and reusing removed material in other places of the home. Even the displaced chimney flues found new purposes in the backyard as planters and benches.
The house’s old windows also were replaced, a practice Pohl almost never recommends while trying to retain a home’s integrity. But being steel framed, single-paned and many not even capable of being properly latched and closed, restoring them would have been costly, and their low efficiency would have still completely thwarted the intentions of the other energy-saving measures.
The compromise paid off though, and two energy blower door tests proved the efforts were worthwhile.
“We did blower tests at the beginning and end of the project,” Pohl said. “The leakage at the beginning, it was like having a hole in the side of the house. When it was done, it was minimal.”
Pohl said that during the initial design phase, through construction, and even now as the family finishes up fitting the home with new furniture and accessories, the host of other professional teams involved, like Montgomery Construction, Crawford Builders, BC Woodworking and staff from Pohl Rosa Pohl, helped influence the final product, thankfully.
“There are a lot of people who helped with this. There are a lot of contractors and subcontractors, architects, and interiors people, and suppliers – I can’t overemphasize that, it’s really a critical part of something like this,” he said. “I can look around and see things in the house that wouldn’t have been the way they are except someone in my house said, ‘You know, this would be better if you did this.’ It’s just fabulous having a good team.”
2012 Lexington Residential Architecture Tour
Graham Pohl and his wife, Jane Fields, will open up their home to the public during the 2012 Lexington Residential Architecture Tour, hosted by AIA EKC’s Women in Architecture group, from 1 - 6 p.m. Sept. 22.
The tour will showcase the residential work of several local architects, with a variety of housing types ranging from high design twists on the large, single-family home to a multi-family, mixed-use development. Each represents the intimate nature of the architect’s design process. These projects evolved in response to the specific needs and desires of each client, available budgets, the context and character of the surrounding neighborhoods, and sustainable considerations, resulting in spaces that are poetic marriages of form and function.
Indicative of the economic climate, several of the projects are renovations, which add to the unique life of their neighborhoods and enhance the lifestyle of the inhabitants. The work is respectful of the past, yet represents the current time, blending modern elements into traditional neighborhoods. Participants in the tour will have an opportunity to explore these spaces firsthand. The project architects and designers will be present during the tour to discuss the projects and design processes, and to point out details and special features of each home.
In addition to demonstrating the value of the architect in residential design, the Women in Architecture group seeks to serve the larger community. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Bluegrass Domestic Violence Program. WiA noticed that the goals of architecture dovetailed with the mission of the organization. Architects seek to provide safe, inspirational spaces for the people who inhabit them.
Tickets for the tour are $10 and are available in advance online at www.lexingtonarchitecturetour/eventbrite.com. Tickets will also be sold locally at locations to be announced. Like Women in Architecture (AIA EKC) on Facebook for details, updates and sneak previews of the houses on the tour.