Featured Project: Garden Hills Estate

Building a new home that blends successfully with the established fabric of a historic neighborhood requires special sensitivity to style and scale. Because the house is located in the city’s historic Garden Hills district, this family chose to build a home in keeping with the English-style homes that were popular in the neighborhood during the 1920s.    

The house was carefully designed to hide its three-car garage, a feat of no small consequence, given the narrow urban lot. With its successful attention to proportion and detail, the finished home is a welcome addition to the street.

The home’s craftsmanship is a testament to the skill of the building team. A spectacular hand-carved limestone bay window, cantilevered from the face of the house, is an engineering feat and represents the acumen of the builder.

Flemish-bond brickwork and a heavy slate roof are authentic to the period, as are the diamond-paned, leaded glass windows, which reflect the evening light in a myriad of patterns.

Bound by hand-wrought iron-strap hinges, the heavy, timbered front doors take inspiration from a 16th-century English manor house. At the back of the house, a covered rear porch, pool with a flagstone terrace, pool house, children’s play area, and koi pond provide areas for outdoor dining and recreation.

The home’s craftsmanship is a testament to the skill of the building team. A spectacular hand-carved limestone bay window, cantilevered from the face of the house, is an engineering feat and represents the acumen of the builder. Flemish-bond brickwork and a heavy slate roof are authentic to the period, as are the diamond-paned, leaded glass windows, which reflect the evening light in a myriad of patterns.

Bound by hand-wrought iron-strap hinges, the heavy, timbered front doors take inspiration from a 16th-century English manor house. At the back of the house, a covered rear porch, pool with a flagstone terrace, pool house, children’s play area, and koi pond provide areas for outdoor dining and recreation.

Inside the house, Thurlow’s interiors successfully incorporate the traditional Tudor Revival-style architecture of the exterior with a lighter, more transitional aesthetic aimed at comfortable family living. A springlike color palette and emphasis on views to the outdoors lend energy and freshness to each room. Designing a historically inspired house that offers the livability of a modern-day house can be challenging. Both inside and out, the family’s home achieves this balance with style and grace.