This home was owned by a father and son duo. The father resided in the house and the son and his family lived on the West coast but visited often and for extended periods of time. The goal was, through extensive remodeling and additions, to make the aging home more spacious and user friendly for an extended family with four young children.

The plan came together nicely, respecting the father’s wishes to honor, and therefore preserve, a historically significant portion of the house that was rumored to have been brought to South Yarmouth from Martha’s Vineyard across a frozen Nantucket Sound.

When the Cape Cod residential architecture design had evolved to something that the father was pleased with he, unfortunately & unexpectedly, passed away. The son was then faced with the very emotional decision of carrying on the project alone, which he and his family ultimately chose to do.

Once the design was complete, the construction was bid in 3 different manners: Entirely new construction, demolition of a portion of the house with replacement of the same, additions, and extensive remodeling, and finally no demolition with just additions and remodeling.

In the end it was determined that complete demolition and entirely new construction was the most economically feasible alternative and the decision was made to take the house down.

Over the course of the next year, a new septic system was installed, a new garage with guest quarters above was constructed, as was a new six bedroom, 4 bathroom house complete with gourmet kitchen, butler’s pantry, great room, laundry room, and master suite with private roof deck overlooking beautiful Bass River, all atop a new flood proof foundation as the house was located within a flood zone given its proximity to the water.

Although the building code at the time did not require it, the owners were made aware of the changes being proposed in the soon-to-be-released 7th edition of the building code and they chose to make it compliant with all the new wind related requirements including hurricane resistant doors and windows.

Throughout demolition, many items from the old house were salvaged and incorporated in to the design of the new house. Also, the historic portion of the house, which the father had hoped to preserve, was replicated in every detail, including the antique brick wood burning fireplace with built-in surround and cabinetry in the rear foyer.

“Without a moment’s thought we would recommend you and your firm for any architectural design project that might come your way.

Again, many thanks for a wonderful collaboration. We absolutely love our new house and expect that generations of our family to come will do so too.

Jen Perini and Jim Cunningham

Tiburon, CA

The end result is a new home with all of the most modern amenities; reclaimed hardwood floors, granite counter tops, tile bathrooms, extensive built-ins with teak accents, custom designed furniture, and much, much more, all the while honoring the deep history of its past.