After consulting with several other architects who recommended gutting the house, the couple was referred to TM, a 2009 Design Vanguard based in Manhattan and western Massachusetts. The firm, known for its expertise in fabrication and for its lighting-design consultancy, advocated a less invasive strategy—one that would target the ground and top levels for the most construction-intense renovations, yet wield a lighter hand on the two floors in between. The surgical approach proved sympathetic to the clients’ appreciation of the many period touches, but it was also a better fit with their compressed schedule: they hoped to move into their new home in September, within months after closing.

Many of TM’s additions are decidedly modern, even on the parlor floor—the level with the most original detail—but the architects kept the changes in dialogue with the historic elements, or made them nearly undetectable. For example, a roll-down screen has been cleverly hidden within the ceiling coffers in lieu of a TV. Within these coffers, and above the wainscoting in the entry vestibule, the architects judiciously placed wallpaper with a cloudlike motif in blues and silver. “It is contained by the architecture,” says TM partner Aoife O’Leary, whose remark also pertains to other parts of the house. “We had never done a project with so much wallpaper,” she adds.

The parlor floor also demonstrates TM’s expertise in both lighting and fabrication: for example, the firm ingeniously integrated an LED strip into the top edge of the living room’s wainscoting, where it washes the portion of the wall above, revealing the original rosettes in the plasterwork.

In the dining room, above a marble table on a sculptural brass base (designed and fabricated by TM), hangs a customized set of pendant fixtures with exposed wiring and bulbs visible within teardrop-shaped glass globes. “It is almost decorative, though ruthlessly contemporary,” says Miller.

Although the architects created a more workable eating area by rejiggering the garden level to include a long banquette and curved storage wall, their scheme largely retained the configuration of the food-preparation zone. The revamped kitchen reuses the cabinet carcasses, but now, instead of an ordinary white, they are a deep green, with new doors, brass hardware, and a soapstone backsplash and counters.

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The revamped kitchen includes a curved storage wall (3) and reuses the cabinet carcasses (4). Photos © Alan Tansey, click to enlarge.

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On the third floor, where there is a bedroom for the clients’ two boys and another for their daughter, the work was mostly “a refresh,” says O’Leary, and entailed repainting the woodwork and adding playful wallpaper. However, the uppermost level was more involved. Here, the architects eliminated the noncompliant lofted bedroom but took advantage of the extra amplitude to create a skylit study with 12-foot ceilings and full-height bookcases. TM also reconfigured the floor’s bathroom so that it now opens into the primary bedroom, rather than the hallway, and includes a circular soaking tub illuminated from above by a cylindrical skylight.

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A skylit bath (5) adjoins the main bedroom (6). Photos © Alan Tansey, click to enlarge.

In the end, the couple didn’t quite make their ambitious September completion date, taking up residence in October while work was still ongoing. But they have the house they desired—one that reflects their personal style and contemporary needs, but lets the historic architecture shine.

Courtesy Taylor and Miller Architecture, click to enlarge.