A multi-generational dream home, under one significantly expanded roof | Local News

But it was not simply a matter of repurposing a guest bedroom.

The Townsends and Karen’s mothers and fathers, Gary and Martha Smith, in fact acquired the home at 3002 Rugby Street in Richmond’s Carillon neighborhood as a joint financial investment. And they constructed a 1,655-square-foot addition with a individual facet-road entryway for the Smiths.

“We understood we ended up likely to build a wing from the commencing,” Karen explained.

The 4,400-square-foot, Colonial Revival-design and style property, which experienced only had a few preceding homeowners given that it was crafted in 1931, was properly-suited for a main enlargement.  It sits on a double great deal, with ample room for a huge addition on the northeast facet of the residence.

After obtaining the house in 2016, the Townsends and Smiths hired Roger S. Guernsey, a Williamsburg-based architect, to design a two-tale wing with two bedrooms and individual places of work for the Smiths, together with 1½ baths.

Guernsey’s programs also repurposed a 1960s addition to be the living place and kitchenette in the parents’ wing.

Guernsey examined the neighborhood’s cottages just before picking out an Arts and Crafts design and style for the new wing, Karen mentioned. The fashion distinguishes the new addition from the principal household though blending into the neighborhood’s  standard aesthetic.

“Its exclusive change in material and design gives the preliminary impression of a individual, extra intimate-scaled cottage,” reported Beth O’Leary, previous associate curator of American art for the Virginia Museum of Good Arts and a Carillon resident who has done comprehensive exploration on the neighborhood.

She extra:  “The cozy influence operates fantastically in the Carillon neighborhood, replete with houses crafted in a wide variety of kinds and sizes over the previous century and a 50 percent.”

The key household at 3002 Rugby Street, which capabilities subtle brickwork and classical details, was built by Richmond-based mostly H. Carl Messerschmidt (1891-1994) for local contractor Edward J. Keegan and his spouse, Jane.

Messerschmidt was a prolific architect who was energetic from 1915 to 1958, O’Leary reported. But he’s principally regarded right now for the Artwork Deco-design and style façade of Perly’s Restaurant (1930) at 111 East Grace Road and the Artwork Deco- and International-fashion Cary Avenue Park and Store Middle (1938) in Richmond’s Carytown.  (It is now recognised as Cary Court docket.)

“It was one of the South’s initially browsing facilities with adjoining parking place,” O’Leary explained.

Messerschmidt’s business do the job – outlets, factories and warehouses – was extensive. His residential layouts are exceptional. The household at 3002 Rugby Road is among the standouts.

“The residence has attractive detailing on all sides, including a 3-amount cornice trim and a fanlight at the rear,” O’Leary explained.

The front elevation’s neoclassical doorway is particularly noteworthy, with an stylish fanlight, Doric columns and whole Greek entablature, O’Leary mentioned.

The Townsends and the Smiths are avid gardeners, and they’ve utilized plantings and backyard garden beds to tie the new wing seamlessly into Messerschmidt’s first design and style.

Other, additional current renovation jobs involve the primary house’s kitchen area, which the Townsends returned to its authentic layout. “We went for a 12 months with out having a kitchen area to cook dinner in,” Karen explained.

In the approach of changing the kitchen flooring, they identified the primary heart-pine floorboards were being continue to intact below two more new layers of flooring. “It’s some of the previous old-growth pine from Louisiana,” Karen said.  “We prize it.”

Other standouts in the kitchen area rework include things like a double-drain board, solid-iron sink, which the Townsends found in New England. It’s about the identical age as the dwelling.

Audience fascinated in touring the dwelling and the garden are in luck because the property’s likely to be a section of this year’s Historic Backyard Week in Virginia, along with four other properties on Rugby Street.  The occasion will just take location on April 27.

The Council of Historic Richmond, which partners with the Yard Club of Virginia for the function, organized the going for walks tour for Rugby Highway.

This will be the second time the household at 3002 Rugby Street has been on the tour. The initial was in 2005 – the last time the tour highlighted the Carillon historic district.

“3002 is a fantastic example of how historic properties can be remodeled to in shape the latest requires of its house owners and extended household, a thoughtful and respectful relationship of historic architecture and new development,” mentioned Susan Fisher, an affiliate broker with Virginia Houses, Prolonged & Foster and a Carillon resident. She’s also a board member and council member for Historic Richmond.

She included: “The Townsends and Smiths have done a amazing position of hardscaping and landscaping to make every thing match alongside one another wonderfully.”