A Look at the Market in Northwest Washington
May 23, 2012 â– Page 19
Craftsman-style home in Palisades wins design award By DEIRDRE BANNON Current Staff Writer
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hen Palisades resident Robert Crooks was looking to move into a craftsman-style home, he wasn’t expecting to demolish an existing house and build a new one in its place. But that’s just what happened — and when the project was complete, it won a local award for best custom home of the year. Crooks, a native of Australia who lived in Mount Pleasant for 20 years before moving to the Palisades, was looking to downsize. Originally, he hoped to find a Sears kit home to restore, but instead, he came across a foursquare on the 5500 block of Sherier Place that had fallen into disrepair. Built in the 1920s, the house had served as a group home, and some modifications had stripped it of its historic features, like the original woodwork. Poorly constructed renovations left the house structurally unsound, and water damage in the basement and asbestos siding sealed its fate: Crooks hired Landis Construction, a local design-build firm, to help raze the structure and build a craftsman-style house in its place.
“The idea was to fit the house into the neighborhood and not overdevelop the site,� said Crooks, who purchased the property in February 2010. In addition to creating a traditional craftsman-style aesthetic, Crooks wanted the house to incorporate green-building elements. It has an energy-efficient heating and cooling system, and incorporates features like rain gardens and barrels to collect and reuse water. One design concept was particularly important to Crooks: a floor plan that would allow him to age in place. As such, there’s a master bedroom suite on the first floor, along with a living room, a dining room and a kitchen. Crooks also installed a home office at the rear of the home and a breakfast room that overlooks the backyard. Two bedrooms on the second floor and an in-law apartment in the basement complete the layout. While the new house is more than double the size of the original structure — going from under 2,000 square feet to about 4,500 — Crooks didn’t want it to seem that way from the street. Senior project designer Armin Bondoc chose to extend the home inconspicuously into the backyard rather than to stretch it high or wide. That effort
Photos courtesy of Landis Construction
The newly constructed home on Sherier Place replaced a smaller, deteriorated 1920s structure. helped the house maintain the scale of the lot’s original structure, and that of neighboring homes. While the house is new, it features a traditional craftsman design. A large front porch with substantial columns faces the street, and flared siding on the ground-level exterior combined with cedar siding on the second level finishes the look. “I recently met a man who drives by the house on a regular basis, and he thought the home was a historic renovation — he couldn’t believe it was basically built from scratch,� Crooks said. Designer Bondoc said the house was a special project for more than one reason. “It was a great project to work
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on from a design point of view because it was a challenge to create something very specific to a client’s needs and aesthetics and to manipulate the space so it wasn’t just a cookie-cutter layout,� he said. “It was also important not to make the house look too big from the outside,� he added. “We manipulated the height of the second-floor roof so that it still maintains a traditional arts and crafts look, but it’s still quite spacious on that floor.� Inside the home, there are oak floors, custom cherry cabinetry and a stone mantel surrounding the fireplace. The scale of the rooms keeps
consistent with the modest craftsman style. In January, the local chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry honored the project by Landis Construction as the 2011 best custom home over $1 million. It was the first time Landis won for a whole-house project. “I’m very happy with the house,� said Crooks, who noted that he spends most of his time in the study in the back — the sunniest part of the house, overlooking the backyard. “The kitchen turned out great, too — it’s perfect for hosting big dinner parties.�
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