Louis XIV Street

Louis XIV Street – MASSIVE Renovation with an entire floor level added underneath the house.

During the bid, the sub-contractors kept asking “What all are we doing with this house?”

Let’s start at the beginning – This 1920’s Mediterranean house was considered a ‘repetitive loss property’ by FEMA. Imagine two parents with little kids waking up after heavy rains to find their raised basement flooded again and again. The owners had enough of the flooding and secured funds to raise the house.

…but we weren’t just going to raise the house. We were going to raise it a LOT. We cut the house loose from the existing foundation where we only had 6’-8” ceiling heights in the basement. Then, we built a new floor BELOW the house to get 9’ ceiling heights and created a real first floor level. This new floor level may be lower, but with the house raised almost 6 feet, this put the new floor above Base Flood Elevation with an additional one foot freeboard. So, we started with a single story house that had a low ceiling basement level below. Now, we have an actual two story house with 9’ ceilings throughout.

If all of that wasn’t challenging enough – we were also faced with the fact that the original house was constructed with solid masonry walls. Solid. Masonry. Walls. We’re talking brick over clay tile block walls. In other words –heavy. Add to this the fact that the roof is terracotta tile roofing. In other words – massively heavy. Only one shoring contractor said they could lift the house without the bricks falling off and that was 6^th generation owned Abry Brothers. So, Abry Bros. cut the exterior walls from the foundation, raised the house, built a new foundation with new exterior solid masonry load bearing walls, and set the house back down on these new masonry walls.

The general contractor, Fitz Construction, then came in and gutted the house, created a new stairwell, and set about an intensive renovation. All of the first floor window sills had to be lowered to create windows of a standard size. The talented Matt Thompson of Silvarum built all new custom windows for the first floor to match the original 1920’s windows at the second floor. We built out a brand new kitchen, living room, dining room, and study on the new first floor level. The staircase moved to the other side of the house. Upstairs, we demolished the original kitchen and created an all new master suite out of the former front living room. Bedrooms moved. Everything moved. At the front façade, the original entry stair and porch became a two-story porch while keeping the 1920’s architecture and retaining the original porch roof that was connected to the house. At the back porch – here comes one of my favorite parts – we created a new screened porch with a top-hinged hopper window with hydraulic pistons that creates a huge pass-through opening to the kitchen. So, guests can mingle on the porch at the counter stools while food and drinks are passed through from the kitchen inside. The clients share my love for indoor – outdoor living and this hopper window is so exciting.

The goal to raise the house to prevent flooding was achieved. The goal to have a more functional two-story floor plan was achieved. And best of all, the finished product appears as though it is all original. A true historic preservation.