A Tudor Revival Home Gets an Update
July 25, 2023
In a house that was built nearly a century ago to look vintage, a renovation team balances yesterday with today.
Text by Robert Kiener   Photography by Robert Benson
![CTSUM23_Haver Skolnik_Kitchen Kitchen with stainless steel cabinets, bronze range hood, and marble countertops.](https://i0.wp.com/nehomemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CTSUM23_Haver-Skolnik_Kitchen.jpg?w=316&h=316&crop=1&ssl=1)
Seamless. Itâs a word that architects Charles Haver and Stewart Skolnick use often when describing their renovation of an elegant 1930s Tudor Revival, which just won an AIA Connecticut Alice Washburn Award.
âThe owners wanted to remove a flat-roofed wing that had been added in the 1970s and wasnât in keeping with the homeâs original design,â explains Haver. âAnd they asked us to replace it with a new wing containing a family room that would flow into a renovated kitchen, both of which should blend in seamlessly with the homeâs classic style.â
The renovation team took their cue from the original structureâdesigned nearly a century ago by Connecticut architect Walter Crabtree to look like an antique, even back then. To match the same wavy brickwork featured on the original exterior, builder Chris Spiller of CDS Contracting tried out several different masons until he found one who could duplicate the free-form design. âThat wavy, quirky look goes against everything that masons have been taught,â explains Spiller. âIt took us a while to find someone who could duplicate it.â And the wingâs roof, like the original, features some intentionally cracked/slanted slates, used to add to the homeâs vintage appeal.
The interior echoes the past, too. A Tudor arch near the original staircase inspired the architects to add similar arches in both the kitchen and family room. âWe wanted to respectâand pay tribute toâthe original architectural design, while at the same time devise an interior that is suitable for a more contemporary way of life,â says Skolnick. For example, the additionâs family room flows into an expansive kitchen, much like youâd find in a contemporary home.
Other elements boldly fuse the old with the new. Skolnick notes that the kitchenâs industrial-looking stainless-steel refrigerator, freezer, and island contrast nicely with the antique French limestone floor. Elsewhere monolithic plaster walls abut white-oak-planked walls. âBy using a back-and-forth vocabulary of contrasting materials,â explains the architect, âyou both bring attention to the different materials and create visual interest.â
In this renovation, sometimes old blends with new, and sometimes new complements old. To carry it off successfully, the execution had to be done, well, seamlessly.Â
Project Team
Architecture and interior design: Haver & Skolnick Architects
Builder: CDS Contracting
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