The way this Hudson home lives was really transformed by its addition, but there were some challenges to overcome in getting to the final design! Sitting on a corner lot, the garage originally faced the back yard. While this complied with the city’s zoning requirement that the garage not face the street, it meant that much of the young family’s backyard was consumed by driveway. Also, because the driveway was on the opposite side of the house from the front door, the main entry to the house was never used by anyone other than delivery people, who parked on the street and walked across the lawn!
The next challenge was creating the new second floor space we needed for the master suite while complimenting the existing gambrel roof. Repeating the shape of the gambrel provided space for the new master suite including this generous bathroom, while meeting with the approval of the Architectural Review Board.
Use of structural ridge beams for the addition roof allowed us to take give the master bedroom a dynamic tall ceiling that reflects the unique shape of the house.
The dormers provide natural light to the full length of the suite addition, and creates a spot for this cozy window seat.
Careful evaluation of the site and views of the house from both streets using the CAD model showed that having the garage doors face the street would not make them any more noticeable than they were when facing the back yard. We did a version of the design with the doors on the back, but as you can see from the camera view of the CAD model taken from the street the garage doors were no less visible. With this knowledge, were were able to get the zoning variance we needed to reclaim the back yard and bring visitors’ cars closer to the front door. A small addition to the footprint of the garage allowed us to add a third garage bay as well.