Bethesda Colonial Makeover

I recently had the opportunity to prepare a zoning analysis for a client in Bethesda MD. I was so intrigued by the prospect of fitting a house on their difficult lot, that I took the initiative to prepare some sektches of my solution. The clients currently occupy a very small 20w x 28d 2 story brick colonial on a corner wedge shaped lot. The entire square footage of the existing structure is 1,000 SF. The first floor has Living, Dining & Kitchen, while the second contains 3 small Bedrooms and 1 small bath.

The client's program is for a house with formal Living/Dining, large entertaining Kitchen open to a Great Room with fireplace and access to a terrace. An attached 2-car Garage is a requirement. They want at least 5, preferably 6 Bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms, and home office space, mud room, etc. Ideally one of the Bedrooms would be a first floor suite for future parents or live in help. They would like a large Master Suite with outdoor space and a large spa like Master Bath and copious walk in closets. Ideally the total square footage would be a minimum of 3,500 SF. The client was fairly certain that they could not fit the entire program onto their very constrictive lot.

The site plan shows the allowable setbacks in red, with the front assumed to be 25 feet. I believe the street line is approximately 10 feet past the property line. The existing one story frame addition to the right side will be razed to make room for the new addtion.

On the proposed site plan, I am showing a sweeping "circular" driveway. You could take the soil that would be removed from excavation for the new additions and create a landscaped "berm" in front. I am of course showing a pool at the rear. This could be an option, or a swimming pool or even a shallow reflection pool. I've basically designed the house to take advantage of all the available setbacks.




I am keeping the existing structure almost entirely intact. This would save significantly on excavation and construction. In the subsequent new design there are a few new openings, but my idea is to keep as much of the structure as possible. I also think there is something to be said for keeping the existing house for reasons of being contextual in the neighborhood and the history it holds for you. The interior would be completely gutted and updated, but hopefully retain the sense of the original.



The new additions essentially wrap the entire house. On the front they are kept to one story so the original structure is revealed. The new bays on the front are aligned with the existing window openings. I've added new dormers to give the front façade more height. The garage is set several feet lower than the main floor and set back, taking advantage of the natural grade on that side of the lot. You could have a room above the garage with dormer windows. A new bedroom addition on the other side could also have a second floor with dormers to balance the garage. I've basically used the existing house as a base for the new additions.




The rear addition would basically be glass on all 3 sides and with the existing house, form an L shape around a terrace, with the pool forming the opposite side. The right side elevation would have numerous gables responding to the multiple setbacks, hopefully giving it a nice " romantic" profile, which would be visible from the road below. You would even see the chimney which could be stone and one of the new master Bedroom windows would be inset directly into the chimney.


The existing house is utilized for a large kitchen on one side and a large dining room on the other, with a center hall gallery with a view line through to the rear terrace. The gallery would be open to the dining room with columns. There would be a fireplace in the new dining room. New glass doors would open the entire area to the rear terrace. On the front would be a new bay to the right with a mudroom (with built-in seat and cupboards), powder room and coat closet. On the left side would be a sitting room which would open to the new dining room. In between would be a new entrance foyer. All of this would be 2 steps down from the existing house, enabling the roof lines and to work, and from the front elevation give the house more height. You could even furnish the dining room as a combined dining/sitting area and use the sitting room as a home office. One the left is a new bedroom with en-suite bath, which could be used as a guest suite (office, in-law, au-pair suite.)


The new 2 car garage would be set into the edge of the sloping grade to the right, so it would be several feet lower than the first floor. The allowable space provides a 20 foot square garage. You could bump out slightly on the side along the angled setback to provide some additional storage for bikes, mower, workbench etc.
I would relocate the stair to the back using it as a connector to the new garage and family room. Access to the basement would be just down from the landing that enters the garage. The mid landing above would have a large seat surrounded by windows that you would see as you passed through. I would set the floor of the family room 3 steps down to enable higher ceilings. This would also enable the room to open directly to the terrace. A large fireplace would anchor the opposite side and provide a more private wall to the side. The back side could have an outdoor fireplace with an intimate outdoor sitting area.


The entire first floor would actually have very few if any doors. I show one on the kitchen, but you could even make this a cased opening, or possibly a pocket door which would be only closed if you had a formal dinner party. The kitchen sink would be the command center of the whole house, with view lines to almost everywhere.

Looking back at the elevations, the front would be a series of gables and dormers give it a picturesque appearance, while the rear would be almost entirely tall lined with pairs of French doors around a terrace.

Because the garage is set a half level lower than the first floor, you could have an additional bedroom (office, au-pair) suite above along with a large laundry room. These would be accessed from the mid stair landing (which has a deep cushioned seat lined with windows to take advantage of the view from here which is the highest point of your lot and looks out over the tops of the neighboring houses). I like this arrangement, as the laundry would be half way between the 2 floors of the house. It makes this bedroom nicely separated as well. There is plenty of room for closets in the eave space.

The second floor of the existing house would contain 3 children's bedrooms. 2 of mostly equal size on either side of a hall bath. A 3rd bedroom on the rear would have a new cantilevered bay overlooking the terrace. While slightly smaller, this could serve as a nursery or later play room, or 3rd child. These all would be accessed from a corridor off the stair landing.


A central oval chamber would connect the rooms with a nice architectural flourish to make the space more fun. Since the rooms are "slightly" smaller than the current typical suburban ideal I provided some luxuries to offset. Bedroom 2 could have a very nice closet/dressing room under the eaves of the roofline over the first floor guest suite. This would create a 2 room suite. Bedroom 3 would have a closet and built-ins along one wall opposite the window. To the right you could have a secret door to a small stair up to a room located above the laundry, by taking advantage of the roof slopes and height differential (this floor is already a half floor higher than the laundry below). So each of the 2 main bedrooms would have a special feature.





Finally the new Master Suite at the rear would sit atop the family room below. I provided a very large walk-in-closet and enormous spa like bath. They are both accessed from a central corridor. Ideally one person could get ready in the morning without going back into the bedroom. I wrapped one entire wall of the bath with windows. There is a large vanity, compartmented toilet for privacy, a very large walk-in shower and a vessel soaking tub. The entire wall of toilet/shower could be formed of frosted glass to keep the space very light and airy. The bedroom takes advantage of the views out over the trees from this corner of your lot. A fully glazed bay window with adjoining balcony complete the suite.

Well there you have it. Living, Dining, Family, Kitchen, 6 Bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 car garage, terrace, pool, and more. The total square feet is about 3,000 +/-. The existing house is approx. 1,000 SF, the addition is approx. 2,000 SF, not including the garage at about 500 SF. The existing finished basement (which would remain of course) if counted is about 500 SF. So you wind up with about 3,500 SF overall.