Working closely with the owner, Richard Drummond Davis Architects designed a new brick and cut limestone wing to this Federal Revival style residence in the Volk Estates area of University Park. The new wing more than doubled the size of the existing residence and includes a new family room, breakfast room, circulation gallery, master bedroom suite and garage for three additional cars. The original residence was designed by Hal Thomson in 1928.
The L-shaped addition in the rear yard forms a courtyard between the existing rear facade and the new family room with new master suite above it.
This wing was pulled away from the rear facade in order to preserve a large arched leaded glass window over the existing main stair. The new, all limestone exterior wall encloses a wide gallery which connects to the new family room and contains the back stair up to the new Master Suite. This wall was sheathed all in limestone to separate the not quite perfectly matched new brick from the old brick.
We complimented the finely wrought details of Thomson’s original design and added architectural interest by using similar but subtly different federal period detailing.
The long axis of the oval breakfast room is rotated to connect the kitchen and Butler’s pantry to the new gallery and to allow cars to swing around and enter the new garage.
Lambert Landscape Company extended the historic feel of the home into the design of the formal gardens with brick paved terraces, terraced reflecting pools, and a gazebo with sculpture. Paul Fields, landscape architect, worked closely with the client and us in the restoration and redevelopment of the beautiful gardens.
Close collaboration with the owner throughout the project allowed the design team to substantially expand the estate while preserving one of Dallas’s finest examples of Federal Revival residential architecture. Preservation Dallas gave this project an award for best addition in an existing context.
Exterior images courtesy of Lambert Landscape Company.
The contractor Bob Forrest of Forrest Construction, Inc. achieved the highest quality of craftsmanship.To read more on this house, please view the article published in
D Home entitled The Four Seasons.