The second story at Beverly Place is set back almost 10 feet from the front of the house. There are decks at the front and back.
An attached study area off the master bedroom in the Ventura house
ALBANY – To look today at the two remodeled houses on Beverly Place and Ventura Avenue here you would hardly recognize that the dwellings started out as twins. The former has a full-height second-floor addition set back atop a flat-roofed bungalow, the original shape of which remains clearly evident. It appears quite removed from the latter, a pitched-roof dwelling with modestly sloped side dormers and totally flush tow-story facade.
A new pitched roof was built atop the Ventura house’s original parapet walls and a deck was installed off the master bedroom.
But, in fact, until Fox Design Group Architects undertook an expansion and renovation of them, the two residences were virtual mirror images of one another.
“What’s unique,” explained Dennis Fox of Fox Design “is that the homes were essentially identical, the families were very similar and the programs were identical, yet we were able to design them to be completely distinct. Each project was personalized to reflect the individual owners’ living patterns.”
Both structures started out as very simple single-story stucco bungalows like hundreds upon hundreds of others in the Albany, Berkeley and Oakland flatlands. While the bungalow style encompasses a range of looks and layouts, these particular houses were made from the same cookie cutter.
Each was flat-roofed and flat-fronted, with a central projecting entryway with the door at one side and a short series of steps leading up to it. The original layouts were also identical. The entry foyer merged into a living room that ran along one side of the house, with the dining room and kitchen in line behind. A breakfast room occupied a second central projection of the back of the house.
Along the opposite side of each house were front and back bedrooms separated by the bath. The only difference between the two homes was that the living room-dining-room-kitchen grouping was on the left in one home, on the right in the other.
Both remodeling projects entailed adding an 800-square-foot second story with two major rooms, sitting/study areas, a bath and a deck atop the breakfast nook. The cost for each was also nearly the same, about $170,000.
The clients also had similar profiles. The couple on Beverly were a grants administrator and a librarian with a 10-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter.
High ceiling and arched window in a child’s room in the Ventura house.
Standing tall at Beverley place
By contrast, the home on Beverly Place, which is aligned on a north-south axis, posed no threat to neighbors’ sun, so the addition went up 12 feet. That allowed full use of the house width for living space. An adult can stand tall at any point in every room. However, the second story is set back almost 10 feet from the front of the house, creating a front deck and maintaining the façade of the first floor exactly as it was.
The master bedroom occupies the front left corner of the second floor. The wife has a sitting area at the back of the bedroom. Because the husband wanted a private space for writing, an enclosed study was placed front right of the master bedroom, as far from everything else as possible.
A family/guest room is at the back right corner. A bath at the center of right side is directly accessible from both the master bedroom and the family room.
The two children have the downstairs bedrooms.
Fox points out that one of the most important differences in the two schemes is the placement of the stairs. The Beverly Place home has a single-run stairwell heading straight up from the central hall. It terminates at a small platform at the back of the second floor with a door on either side, giving maximum privacy to the parents’ suite.
The Ventura Avenue home has a switchback stair in side-of-the-house space taken from the back bedroom. The stairwell ascends to a central hall that provides direct access to each of the upstairs rooms. Because the single-run stair is cheaper to build, the clients were able to apply the savings to a full kitchen remodel.
“One of the nicest things about the switchback stair is that we were able to open up the wall of the dining room and let more light into the living and dining areas from a window on the stair landing,” said Fox, “which makes the space seem larger and more welcoming.”
Fox’s small Point Richmond firm has custom designed homes throughout the East bay hills and on the Mendocino coast as well as doing remodels. The firm specializes in working with individual owner/users.
“Even when you start out with the same product, a designer can help you shape the solution to your requirements,” Fox said.