Chilean Avenue
Renovation in Palm Beach, FL
This project called for the creative restoration of a Spanish Colonial Revival-style house in Palm Beach, Florida. The house, built in 1928, is a stucco balloon frame two-story building attributed to the architect’s John Volk and Gustav Maass. Many renovated interior spaces were threadbare, gloomy, and bore no relation to the original house. Our clients asked us to preserve the original house’s integrity but renovate and replace the spaces that were later interventions. New rooms and architectural features were designed to be in the spirit of the past. The quality and authenticity of materials and craftsmanship were of paramount importance.
The front elevation of the house remains unchanged, except for the addition of a stucco street wall and piers with stone caps. We replaced a tubular steel patio cover with a cypress wood pergola east of the family room on the garden side of the house. We added a chimney for a new fireplace on the north side of the pergola and a large single arch steel and glass door to let more light into the family room. A new pizza oven was built south of the pergola and sits on axis with the pergola fireplace.
On the south side of the living room, the number of arched French doors increased from three to seven to open up the entire south living room wall to an existing loggia. The kitchen, butler’s pantry, family room, and wet bar floors were lowered 1’-0” to maximize ceiling height. The kitchen has a reclaimed brick and steel vaulted ceiling and new cypress cabinets with applied panel mouldings in geometric patterns that mimic the designs of several existing doors.
New cypress paneled and beamed ceilings were installed in the new family room, existing living room, and dining room. Several door openings were reworked with figured arches and painted archivolts with the original entry hall and stairhall preserved.
Mediterranean Fantasy Revival
Process
Additional ceiling height was reclaimed with tray ceilings with painted wood strapping in the bedrooms. A new reclaimed brick terrace with Spanish barrel tile screen openings was installed off of two of the guest bedrooms.