As the oldest surviving house in this part of the city, the building has heritage status, which meant that the work would include restoring the primary and side facades—an assignment Giannone Petricone, known for its inventive projects spanning from preservation and reuse to new construction—undertook with great care. In collaboration with conservation consultant ERA Architects, the firm meticulously refurbished or recreated such original details as the front door, with its intricate sidelights, porch spindles and pickets, and the cornice’s brackets and replaced the windows with high-performance replicas.

At the back, where the architects had more freedom, they “scraped away the barnacles,” says Petricone, referring to the earlier appendages. In their place, they designed a two-story addition, almost entirely enclosed in an undulant ribbon of glass, overlooking a deck and swimming pool. The glazed veil of argon-filled units, fabricated in Spain and hung from above like a curtain wall, define a family room and kitchen on the first floor. On the upper level, the glass bifurcates and steps back, surrounding the primary bedroom and bath.

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Upstairs, the glass ribbon defines the primary bedroom (3) and its bath (4). Photos © Scott Norsworthy

Within the 19th-century shell, where few original elements remained, the architects created an environment that is not slavishly historical but one that, Petricone says, is “a better version of itself.” For instance, they enhanced the “fitness” of the house’s envelope, insulating the masonry from the interior, and, in so doing, increasing the finished wall thickness from 11½ to 15½ inches. The new heft not only provides improved thermal performance, but it also makes the structure feel even more authentically old. One can appreciate this accentuated solidity in the dining and living rooms, located on either side of the house’s center stair hall on the first floor. There, with the double-hung sashes pushed toward the exterior, the deep window surrounds are made of smooth white solid surfacing, as are the extra-tall base moldings—moves that help intensify the sense of weightiness.

The opening above the stair has been enlarged and curved. Photo © Scott Norsworthy

Although the ambience in the front part of the house is formal, traces of the addition’s more expressive DNA are evident. One example is the cloud-shaped pendants above the dining table. Another is the opening above the stairway in the first-floor ceiling. Originally configured with little headroom, the opening has been enlarged, with an edge that swoops organically. The stair’s wood handrail, supported by slanted balusters whose angle matches that of the risers, ends in a snaking leather-wrapped coil. On the second floor, where there are two bedrooms in addition to the primary one (a fourth bedroom has been created in the former attic), the curved surfaces, made of drywall, continue, subtly sculpting the walls of the hallway. These playful details, says Petricone, are like “escaped” parts of the addition.

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Tactile finishes include walnut millwork in the kitchen (5) and blue felt in the family room (6). Photos © Scott Norsworthy

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These runaway bits serve to stitch the historic portion of the house to the addition, as do the interior finishes. Throughout, they are warm, inviting, and tactile, but also durable. Wide-plank white oak covers the floors; gray book-matched marble with brown veining clads the living room fireplace; walnut millwork with rounded corners helps mark the threshold between the dining room and the kitchen; and a deep blue felt covers the family room walls. Even the undulant glass skin, despite its delicate appearance, is quite robust, says Petricone.

The reincarnated Snider House is many things at once, achieving a rich layering of ideas. The residence is respectful of history, renovated with appropriate gravitas. But it is also luxurious and lighthearted, as well as comfortable—perfectly suited for 21st-century life.

Click plans to enlarge