NARI San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
2005 First Place Entire House Remodel

Architect: Andrew Skurman

The homeowners bought this large 1876 Centennial Victorian home in San Francisco to raise their young family, but the house had suffered from many years of neglect and poor remodels. The house at one time was broken up into multiple units and at the time of the current homeowner's purchase, a small manufacturing business was being operated out of the basement.

After hiring a local architect, a project was developed to restore the historic aspects of the home while modernizing it for contemporary living. We (the general contractor) were brought in because of our vast experience remodeling large houses and for our expertise in working with historic buildings.

A new foundation was installed with the addition of a garage (the original house did not have one). The entire house had to be shored while the foundation was being replaced. In order to gain ceiling height in the basement area, and because the adjacent building was in danger of being undermined, the sandy soil had to be epoxy grouted because sandy soil tends to run like water when excavated. With the new foundation, a large volume of additional space was captured and a guest suite, game room, music room and exercise room were created, all in keeping with the Victorian character of the building. The additional depth also allowed for a gently sloped driveway to the street for the added garage.

The main floor was leveled. A modern new kitchen and family room were constructed within the existing envelope of the building. The double parlor, entry hall and dining room were restored to their original splendor. All of the windows and doors were replaced with custom built units that used original type detailing throughout. On the top floor, the master suite was remodeled using one of the existing bedrooms for a new master bath and closet. Another bedroom was rebuilt into a library, while the final two bedrooms and bath were remodeled. One of the unique features of this building is a spiral staircase that we installed in a large existing closet. The spiral staircase accesses the newly created roof deck through an electronically operated roof hatch. The roof deck captures panoramic views of the city.

The exterior of the building was restored by replacing damages or missing moldings and other Victorian detailing to match the original design of the house. Finally the entire exterior of the house was painted.