Birch Project

This 1850 side-entrance, four-story Greek revival with an L-shaped porch, was in, great distress and required a complete overhaul including a total gut renovation with all new plumbing, heating/AC, and electrical to replace the existing knob and tube wiring. Once again, Back Bay Design was challenged to modernize this house while restoring its unique character and charm.

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Project Description

Initially a 1.5 bathroom, we renovated the originals and also added 3 new full baths. We transformed the 3 bedroom floor plan into a 5 bedroom house by raising the roof of the 3rd floor and removing a chimney to create an open floor plan. Heat and plumbing were run up to the 3rd floor to extend the luxury living space.

We added an addition to the second floor to create a large master bedroom with luxury mahogany walk-in closet and oversized master bathroom. Overall, we added close to 2000 square feet of living space to this historic house, and meticulously stayed true to the original detail: we used large moldings, repaired the floor to ceiling windows, added elaborate wood work, crafted custom built-ins, and installed custom leaded glass windows.

The back stairway in the house was removed to increase living space and meet modern- day needs. Other successes during this project were the reconstruction of the rotting front porch, underpinning of the entire basement to increase ceiling height by 2 feet and leveling of the house.

Wherever possible, we believe in “green solutions”. In this case, we used energy efficient insulation to cut down on heat loss and recycled glass to replace pains. We used bamboo as some of the flooring along with low VOC carpeting. We also installed a “high efficient” HVAC system and an energy-efficient water heater and water infiltration system, all subject to government rebates.