This Craftsman remodel and addition in Palo Alto, California, is a story of transformation for the a house and its inhabitants. From the outside, you see a linking structure that connects the original, historic house to an architecturally sympathetic two-story accession. But inside is where the changes are felt and seen.

Architect Cathy Schwabe transformed the way in which the home and its inclusion relate to the different outdoor spaces, altering the way the customers use and live in the house. “When I had to point to the main thing that is different about the home, it’s that the outside was brought in. This connection with the landscape — the light, the weather — it is far more than previously. Living in the home only feels better,” states Schwabe.

In addition to enhancing the indoor-outdoor caliber of the home, the builder also established new, personal spaces in the inclusion, enabling this academic family to leave their work in the original part of the home and return effortlessly to the more personal living and sleeping quarters in the inclusion.

in a Glance
Who lives here: Stanford University professors and their family
Location: Palo Alto, California
Size: 3,600 square feet
Year built: 1899
That is intriguing: This area, a registered historic district, is called Professorville because of its historical connection with Stanford University.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The original, historic home is on the right; the one-story arrangement from the centre connects the bungalow to the two-story addition on the left.

“I begin every visit from the linking arrangement. The entry is understated and modest,” states Schwabe.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The National Historic Register clarifies the original home as with a “vaguely Japanese” character, which Schwabe attributes to the house’s irregular roof overhang.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The dining room was changed by the architect . The customers, professors at Stanford, sometimes invite scholars to stay in their house for a protracted period of time. Schwabe’s customers also work undisturbed from the scholar’s wing — and can render their work and return to the addition.

“There is an option, to put it differently. Not residing in the middle of a person’s work sounds a key way to control the stress of today. This wasn’t possible before, when distances intermixed,” Schwabe states.

Pendants: Galbraith & Paul Smokebush Medium Pendant, Room & Board

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The architect changed everything used to be the former living room into a library. Her staff also carefully eliminated the old flooring to refinish it before reinstalling the floors in this part of the original house.

“The windows on the right are original. I salvaged the chimney on the left from a deconstructed region of the home for improved daylighting. This [left] wall was orginally an interior walls, but I feel the added lighting brings a totally new dimension to the original home,” she states.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

Walking through the original house’s hallway in the linking structure feels like a “walk through time,” Schwabe states. The play of new and old is felt here.

Sliding doors open the walls on both sides of the hallway, and in some ways the walls appear to vanish, fusing the interior to the outside. “The home personifies naturalism, a massive part of Craftsman philosophy,” she states.

The architect urged the absence of art on the walls. “The materials are so beautiful they’re decoration enough,” she states.

Sliding doors, screens: Fleetwood; dangling art quilt: Ellen Oppenheimer; flooring: Douglas fir, original to home; Womb Chair (at right): Y Living

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The courtyard shown itself during the design process and came from both among the customers — a mathematician dedicated to the concept of an efficient design of space — and the builder.

The courtyard provides the family a substitute outdoor area for the place that is currently taken by the inclusion. It also links the old home to its newer components.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

Schwabe relocated the kitchen . Here is where she reinterpreted materials used in the old home: The smooth, oiled, flat wood boards of this old house became vertical, painted, resawn wood boards in this room; the weathered Douglas fir flowing off the old home became a rough basalt tile flooring in the brand new; the redwood cabinets of this older became painted cupboards.

The outcome is a light-filled kitchen with easy access to the outside, thanks to full-height sliding doors.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The red cedar ceiling uses a tongue and groove assembly to conceal the nails and a mitered connection in the corner joints as the timber changes direction with the ceiling framing. The ceiling and flooring add visual interest to some sun-drenched, porch-like bedroom on the second floor.

The inclusion allows for the separation of the family’s living areas from the quieter older wing, used chiefly by guests along with other scholars.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The master bedroom enjoys its very own balcony area, which overlooks the interior courtyard and the original house.

Cathy Schwabe Architecture

The Ann Sacks sakura tile mural extends the Japanese character of the original home to the master bath. The subtle transition from old to new in this home “is a quiet merging of melodies,” states Schwabe.

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