Project Description
“A true restoration” and “an incredible continuum of history” were among
the judges’ comments about this historic Virginia farmhouse. “As they
peeled back materials, they discovered old timbers and expressed them in
the end.”
Constructed as early as 1730 as a one-room log house, “Four
Stairs” underwent several acquisitions and additions before being
purchased by its current owner, a devotee of old houses who had it
listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The owner’s
requirements, said architect Stephen Vanze, were to make the home
livable for a modern family while “restoring the simple, clear evolution
of the building” without damaging its historic materials. “The goal was
to recapture the original form of the house in its rustic informality
and render it tangible and visible,” Vanze said.
Particular challenges included “surgically inserting” bathrooms in the
hall-less configuration; replacing the structurally fragile kitchen with
a porch-like post-and-beam kitchen and family area; and creating a
clear line of sight throughout rooms and to the lawns without removing
any of the four stairs for which the home is named. The judges also
lauded the project’s craftsmanship, noting the “honest joinery,” “ship’s
knee” brackets, and new mortise-and-tenon joints of this “incredibly
sensitive” blending of old and new.