2 Story Addition
Historic Denver Home
A historic home that had run out of room
The house had charm to spare — a small historic brick home in Denver, full of character. What it didn't have was space to actually live. Inside was a chopped-up series of small rooms and a single bedroom, the kind of layout that made the home feel smaller than it already was.
The owners loved the history. They just needed the house to work for a modern life.
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Old and new, side by side
The defining decision was the owners' own: rather than try to match the historic brick with a sympathetic imitation, they chose to contrast it. A frankly modern addition in the rear — not a copy of the past, but a deliberate counterpoint to it.
It's a confident move. The historic and the modern sit side by side, each one sharpening the other, and the result is a home with a genuinely unique identity instead of a seamless-but-forgettable extension.
Every square inch, accounted for
The lot was tiny. There was no room for a wasteful gesture anywhere, which meant the whole house — existing and new — had to be rethought as one.
We gutted and redesigned the original house alongside the addition, doubling the footprint within the constraints of the small property. The old, elongated bedroom became two guest bedrooms off the living room. A new great room opened up the cramped main floor, with a kitchen and dining space below and a new master suite above. Even the existing enclosed porch earned its keep — converted into a walk-in closet rather than left as dead space.
By the end, a one-bedroom home had become a three-bedroom, two-bath home, without an inch to spare or an inch wasted.
Built to last
What makes the project work isn't just the added square footage — it's that every detail was considered for the long run. Compact, efficient, and resolved, the home now honors its history while finally living the way its owners need it to.
