Home & Design

New plaster ceilings and state-of-the-art windows grace the living room while preserving its original style.

Behind the main residence, a new ancillary structure houses a ground-level office  and a garage below.

The renovation preserved I.M. Pei’s signature  triple barrel vault  roof made of poured- in-place concrete. Travertine sourced in Italy extends from the courtyard, through the home and onto the  rear terrace. The team retained Pei’s exposed-brick walls  and matched new  brick elements to the  existing material.

Grand Award - Custom Build: Whole House, Renovation

Robert M. Gurney, FAIA Architect
Grand Award Custom Build: Whole House, Renovation
Robert M. Gurney, FAIA Architect

It just so happens that this modern 1960 DC home—one of only three residences that I.M. Pei designed—occupies a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. So when the owners enlisted architect Robert Gurney to restore and expand it, he paid homage to Pei’s iconic design. The redo stripped the structure down to its brick walls, wood frame and triple-barrel-vaulted roof. Then it was rebuilt to include updated HVAC and electrical systems as well as the streamlined kitchen and minimalist millwork. An excavation made way for a new guest suite and media room. And an office and garage were introduced in a new two-story outbuilding that conveys its own architectural language, leaving Pei’s original to live on, better than ever.

Architecture: Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, principal; Matt Stephens, project architect, Robert M. Gurney, FAIA Architect. Interior Design: Baron Gurney Interiors, LLC. Builder: Peterson + Collins. Landscape Architecture: Campion Hruby Landscape Architects.

“The original minimalist detailing maintains its integrity and received a worthy restoration.”
Dale Overmyer, jurist

 

HOME&DESIGN, published bi-monthly by Homestyles Media Inc., is the premier magazine of architecture and fine interiors for the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia region.

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