2020 Home of the Month Look Book

School House Box
Project type: Remodel, Addition
Believed to be the oldest building in Excelsior, this humble brick structure has transformed, been moved, and housed countless
people over its 162 years. Affectionately known as ‘The Beehive’ because of all the comings and goings, it began as the original Excelsior
schoolhouse, was moved to its current location in the 1880s, and over the years was used as a 23-room dormitory for the Northwestern
Christian College, a boarding house, apartments, as well as (rumors of) more sordid activities in the early 20th century!
In its most recent iteration, multiple rental units had been carved out of its interior. On the back was a dilapidated
three-story porch that had been a rebuild of a previous porch structure. Because the building lies within the Excelsior
Historic District we could not alter the front façade, and unusually, the back façade also fell under the historic guidelines
because it faced the public parking for City Hall and many of the stores on Water Street. That’s where we began.
The building has been in the same family for the past 30 years. The owner, an interior designer, was working on plans to combine the two
main floor units when she came to us. Her main goal was to turn the main floor into her home, keep the upper unit intact, start from scratch
on the basement unit, and give all units a nice backyard-facing space and an outdoor space, which they didn’t currently have.
A full rebuild and expansion of the back porch was needed to give reasonable space
to each unit. The entire main floor and basement levels were torn open down to the
studs, which were beautiful —crusty, aged old-growth pine with a fantastic patina.
We removed walls only where absolutely required or left exposed studs uncovered.
The design looks forward, not backward, and the forms emerged out of the design
process, while drawing from and being anchored in the full breadth of its context.
The intersection of the new and old is the most exciting aspect of the project.
The primary visible change is the new expansion off the back. We did not intentionally
make it distinct. Here we drew from the context of the building itself and
immediate downtown district. The schoolhouse already had a few blocky additions
so our new addition followed the same pattern, a series of cascading blocky
forms extending and expanding the space that was already there. This articulates
each unit as unique and scales the building to the individual and family.
We also thought carefully about proportion. For example, the building already had
vertical double hung windows which were also prevalent in the historic district. We played on this idea and used jumbo double-hungs in the
new construction. This connects us to the history and context, but also surprises and connects us to the greater space outdoors in ways
the old building did not.
Materially, the existing schoolhouse could not be matched, but it could be exposed, celebrated, and not dominated
by the new construction. We love materials, the stuff we build buildings with. This project is filled with rich
materials, both original and new, meant to compliment and expand the palate: brick, raw steel, glass, exposed
wood, original floors, new travertine and walnut, and charred cedar, charred by the owner herself.
PHOTOS: CHAD HOLDER
CityDeskStudio
www.citydeskstudio.com • (651) 644-1106
Design team: Ben Awes, AIA; Chris Bach
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