Keystone:
Tudor Addition Seamlessly Blends Old and New
Historically accurate two-story addition combines
function and modern comforts
For storybook charm and old-world details, few houses can compete with the circa 1920s Butler-Schmitt home on North Keystone Avenue in River Forest. This Swiss/Bavarian-style Tudor features half-timbering and lovely stonework with beautiful leaded glass windows.
Having worked with Oak Design & Construction in the past, Lynne Butler and husband Burk Schmitt knew Oak would be sensitive to their home's unique character. Oak Design had a reputation for creating comfortable additions to older homes that seamlessly blended with original footprints and features.
Like many houses of the era, the Butler-Schmitt residence had a glass-enclosed porch that was not in keeping with the Tudor. Together, Butler-Schmitt and Oak decided to tear down the boxy, brown porch and replace it with a historically accurate - and winterized - two-story expansion.
The success came in the details. Take the new roof line, for example: If it were too wide, it would block existing kitchen windows. Oak overcame this obstacle by removing a dormer and anchoring the ridge line of the new slate roof to an existing chimney. Exterior timbers were distressed to match their original counterparts. Oak Design located new stone that exactly replicated the abutting walls, and then masons carefully matched the home's mosaic patterning.
A newly-constructed chimney connects fireplaces in the master bedroom and the family room below. Its profile was carefully detailed to match the house's original, right down to the decorative iron scrollwork. A bow window with transom lites, the focal point of the new family room, features inserts of leaded glass, custom-made to help the contemporary scale of the new windows blend with the home's original leaded panes.
Radiant heat is one of many modern comforts contained in the family's newly constructed space, which consists of a master suite complete with fireplace and walk-in closet upstairs, as well as the cozy family room below. Butler also loves the bathroom's unique fixtures by a lesser-known, luxury French maker, Herbeau. The countertops are marble, and the floor, which mimics the look of marble, is actually porcelain tile.
Lynne summarizes the project: "Everything is very functional and very comfortable. And Oak Design made sure the neighbors were impacted as little as possible. Everyone thinks the new addition is beautiful. It looks so natural."
Photos by Sara Payne
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