English colonists came in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1633; hence, the majority of the town’s housing inventory is anything but modern. When these homeowners, who lived in a very traditional home in Hingham, adored their preferred town, the wife longed for a modern house. So when this midcentury house went on the market for a teardown using a water view, the household snapped it up.
“The house was in such poor shape that we can not even show several before films,” says architect Don DiRocco of Hammer Architects. (Though see below for just one.) But, his group’s design saved a huge part of the home while they tore down the darkened and dark parts which didn’t get the job done. Both the new and old segments were designed to create a light, bright atmosphere that took complete advantage of their harbor views. The new home has an awareness of entrance; an easy, open stream; and a fresh kitchen hub for gathering cooking, holding cooking classes and doing homework.
at a Glance
Who lives here: A household with 4 children in high school and school
Location: Hingham, Massachusetts
Size: 5 bedrooms, 4 baths
Year built: Original house, 1950s; renovation, 2010
Hammer Architects
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They tore down the old garage and built a new one, along with a brand new breezeway that connects it to the new principal doorway and helps specify an entrance courtyard. “Before, the entrance to the home was tucked around the back of the home and was hard to locate,” DiRocco says. Now “there is not any longer any confusion regarding where to enter the home.” The door on the right is a second entrance that contributes to a large mudroom with cabinets to your kids’ sports gear, coats and shoes.
Before Photo
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“The original home had a set of strange intersecting gable roofs which caused escapes,” says DiRocco. “They had a small spiral stairs into the roof set up, because they had to move up there and repair it so often.” The house’s problems gave the architects good ideas about what to do. It had been “quite dark and dreary; it had a great water view that it was not taking advantage of,” DiRocco says.
Hammer Architects
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The architects added a new kitchen, a brand new garage and entrance courtyard, along with a brand new master suite, and reconfigured existing spaces (view the programs at the end to get a precise idea of these modifications). The attached greenhouse found in the previous photo was donated and carted away. On the right side of the photo you can see the brand new screened-in porch and master suite.
Hammer Architects
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“Occasionally negative existing aspects such as these inspire the new design. We added glass wherever we could, and the home is now filled with natural light from large windows and clerestories,” DiRocco says. This corner is your master bedroom, in which 6- by 3-foot windows take full advantage of the view of Hingham Harbor.
Hammer Architects
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Around the corner from the garage, big windows make the most of the water views. Exterior doors from the office/fifth bedroom and the living room link to the patio.
Hammer Architects
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Translucent glass on the garage doors expands the Japanese lantern–such as glow of the house at night.
Garage doors: Clopay Avante
Hammer Architects
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Red cedar tongue and groove clapboard siding has a natural stain that may stand up to the sea air and harsh winter climate. The house is well insulated and works nicely in summer, too. “This home can really breathe,” DiRocco says. “They’ve air-conditioning, but they seldom need to turn it on.”
Hammer Architects
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Wood beams and a tongue and groove ceiling are original to the home.
While the clients desired stairs down to a basement family room to be a part of their space, they desired to partly hide them. “We did not have much wall space on the first floor, because we wanted to depart the views as open as possible, so this was a good opportunity to include shelves,” DiRocco says.
Floors: stained walnut
Hammer Architects
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The kitchen is a completely new part of the home and serves as the heart of the house. The wife was a well-known chef in Boston and had a large, workable kitchen in which she could do some serious cooking and also have enough room to hold courses. The household also desired a multipurpose space for spending time together.
Appliances: Thermador; counter stools: Ikea; cabinets: custom, Ted Franklin, Welfleet, Massachusetts
Hammer Architects
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“The kitchen serves as a fantastic hub in the house; all these corridors meet here, and it’s a significant gathering spot. The family is quite tight-knit, and the children do their homework at this table,” DiRocco says.
“The kitchen has a high volume which pops up 14 feet and has wonderful natural light all day,” he says. Clerestory windows bring in light from three sides.
Pendant lighting: Ikea; faucet: Grohe Minta; counters: Surrell solid design in Arctic White, Formica; ceiling: tongue and groove fir
Hammer Architects
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The kitchen glows like a lantern at night.
Hammer Architects
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The long dining/living room goes all of the way into a sitting/TV viewing area which leads out into the patio. This component of the home was spared from the initial structure. All the windows are fresh and are larger than the originals.
Hammer Architects
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The architects also rescued the original large chimney and hearth found on the left. While dreaming of moving out of their traditional home for their new modern house, the owners knew they’d be starting fresh with new minimalist decor and furnishings.
The doors at the end of the room result in a screened-in porch, with the master suite beyond it.
Before Photo
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BEFORE: This is the plan of the existing home when the architects were hired. While the neighborhood was an enclave of quite small midcentury modern homes, most of the original homes have been torn down and replaced with big homes on account of the prime views.
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AFTER: This is the brand new plan of this home as it is today. “This home is a anomaly in Hingham,” says DiRocco. “The kids’ friends absolutely love hanging out here, the family loves the design, they continue to be within walking distance from downtown Hingham and live near their schools.”