Curb Appeal for our 1920s Foursquare

6 years ago

We have a 1922 brick foursquare house that was designed to utilize a side entrance rather than the traditional front porch (has anyone seen this? I haven’t been able to find any similar floor plans). I’m looking to spruce up the outside of our home this spring and summer. We do need to repaint all of our white trim but I’m considering putting shutters on the house to make the windows look a little more... finished? Also open to all ideas on landscaping, making our porch more inviting, hiding the generator/AC unit in the front of the house, etc. Anything we can do with that upper balcony?

Featured Answer

ourfarmhouse

6 years ago

So here are some suggestions...

Although the windows look like they have been replaced at some point, they are tired and need some detail and sparkle. There seems to be a little bit of depth missing, as well. Adding the appropriate millwork/moulding around and between the windows would help with depth and adding muntins would help with detail. White or ivory trim with black windows would help add a fine detail and some sparkle. New windows might be the best, but it could be done with millwork add-ons. I wouldn't add shutters to this house. They really aren't needed, and could look incorrect for this Craftsman style of house.

A grander entryway would look appropriate on this house, even if you don't use it as such. The entryway that you have now seems to not quite match the scale of the rest of the house. A door with a window and sidelites would fit the bill. This way you could center the opening. Even though the stairs are off to one side, this could still feel right. While you're at it, a larger carriage light centered in the ceiling of the porch would make the porch more inviting.

The porch/portico would benefit from a grander railing up top. This could be wood or a polyurethane millwork (polyurethane is more expensive, but would be much less maintenance, and if painted, looks just like wood).

Centering a double french door above the porch could give greater access or just add more light to that upstairs hallway. Again, it just fits the scale of the house better, and also just feels more deliberate.

The entrance to the right side looks like it could also benefit from some more architectural detail. French doors and sidelites with muntins would look architecturally correct to the house and add that needed detail. It would also add continuity with the french door above the porch.

Landscaping could be much more lush and green. Curved lines could soften the strong lines of this Craftsman Foursquare. The piers on the porch could be topped with large urn planters and a seasonal mix of plantings to top it all off. A paver sidewalk heading straight toward your door would feel more inviting.

I know some of these things are larger ticket items than what you are asking for, but they would go a long way in helping with the curb appeal of this already beautiful house.

Here is what it might look like...

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Comments (38)

PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
6 years ago
No shutters on a four square. You need a landscaping plan for this lovely home.
visualizemaven
6 years ago
U2 look cute sitting on your front porch!

Re: the upper railing and door- do you plan on using that door/porch? If not, I don't think it adds anything to the house so I would remove the railing and switch out that opening to make it work better with the rest of the windows/door openings.

Are you open to painting the brick (you have to get the proper epoxy paint made specifically for painting bricks so they can breathe)? Regardless, I would change the trim color from white to something else.
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kaye1951
6 years ago
http://www.vintagehomesofdenver.com/artman/publish/denver-home-styles/Denver-Home-Styles---Denver-Square.html

This article gives some interesting information which may help you. (No shutters, please!). Interesting side note: President Eisenhower's mother-in-law lived in a "Denver Square" and there is a very small plaque denoting her home. Dwight suffered a heart attack while he and Mamie were visiting her and he was hospitalized at the Denver VA Hospital. My history lesson for today, lol.
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
@visualizemaven We don’t use that porch (especially since we have a little guy) but we have switched out the old storm door for a glass/screen door that we can leave open to get a breeze upstairs (and some light!). The door lives at the end of our hallway next to the door to our walk up attic. I have no idea why it was built this way - maybe it was just a window until someone decided to built out the balcony. Our house is full of mysteries! Not sure what else we could do with it if we take the railing off. Husband isn’t into painting the brick.
User
6 years ago
Not sure about the question on the side door...they used to be common....Tradespeople had to use the side door...

Beautiful house...

I like the traditional x railings on the second floor and I believe the other 2 sections would have had them also...
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
On the side door - it seems uncommon for it to be the main entrance to a foursquare. Our ‘front’ traditional foursquare porch faces what’s now a busy road but was at the time a country road. Not sure if they utilized it as the front of the house (it is now enclosed and hard to tell when changes were made) but the side of the house (pictured) is the main entrance. We also have a back ‘service’ door into the kitchen. Our stairs are just inside the main door. I just haven’t seen a layout like ours anywhere. I don’t know if it was a custom design or if owners have just changed the layout over the years. There’s another, smaller foursquare two houses down and they also utilize a back door rather than the front porch.
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I'm sure that most people enter wherever they get dropped off...so the entry closest to the driveway might have been "grandified" over the years??

I would love to see more photos, in and out :) Purely for reasons that I'm envious as I live in a newer house now and I so miss the old colonial with the creaky stairs and banging radiators.. :) I would take that over my current energy efficiency and windows that open easily (and all of the other dull stuff) any day...
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
Yes I should create a floor plan and post it here. It’s a different layout than I’ve ever seen - and I’ve done a lot of research on foursquare floor plans!
visualizemaven
6 years ago
Just ruminating here - if you look at the 4 square photos people have shared, none show a door over the front entry or a railing. IMHO I think the railing was added as a safety measure and really is taking away from the beauty of the home.

You can replace the door opening with a more decorative window that opens for ventilation and will still provide light.
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
Yes it’s definitely what’s unique about our home - I’ve never seen a foursquare with a side entrance instead of front, so they definitely were creative with it! I am open to the idea of removing the door and replacing with a window, just need to figure out options.
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
Also there is another balcony that you can’t see much of because of the light, but it’s above the side without a door and runs almost the full length of the back of the house. It has the same railing as the balcony above the entrance but is even stranger to access. It has a smaller door from one of the bedrooms - you actually have to take a step up about a foot to go outside! I’m guessing someone decided they wanted a balcony off their bedroom and used the flat space on top of the entryway roof below.
PRO
Dig Doug's Designs
6 years ago
some ideas
PRO
HALLETT & Co.
6 years ago
Funny, I’m in savannah ga and tons of houses here have doors on the second floor to a flat roof over a porch. Maybe a regional thing? This looks pretty original to me.

Color wise, please no white trim with brick (and please don’t paint the brick, it’s pretty as it is and low maintenance). Putty or olive work great with this color brick. If you paint the front door a color paint the screen/storm door the same color. The second floor door is best painted the window color so it’s not a feature.
User
6 years ago
I have seen them also. I like the white wooden rails (especially against your brick!!)..I'm fond of the X ones, but that's personal preference...
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
Interesting! The trim was already painted white when we bought the house 2 years ago, I guess I didn’t give much thought to painting it a different color. We have a red barn on the property with white trim and a small shed (would have been the original well house) in front of the house just out of the scope of this picture (on the left). It’s also red with white trim. So - if we paint the trim another color on the house, would it then clash with the other structures? We also have a white picket fence around our back yard.
gtcircus
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I would remove the aluminum door that goes out over the portico. You can also get a cover for the meter so that it blends in better. Ideally the existing sidewalk would be further away from the house to give you a better planting area.
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
We replaced that door with a glass/screen door so it’s not so hideous and we get more light into the upstairs hallway. It was on my must-have list! :) We also live in northern Illinois so most pretty things are dead half the year, leaving us with a sad, bare house. Any nice evergreen-type shrubs anyone can recommend?
Jane Gray
6 years ago
following
gtcircus
6 years ago
OK, well the azaleas are therefore not going to work. LOL, I am in Southern Illinois. You do not have a lot of room to plant in front of the house on the right side which is why I used grass. I have large meters in my front yard and they do a good job of hiding them. I did put an evergreen on the left side, so let me go back and see what I can do but it may involve pulling the sidewalk further away from the house
gtcircus
6 years ago
Here is another version, but I have pulled the sidewalk out so that there is enough room for plantings. This incorporates your evergreen shrubs along with hydrangeas, etc.
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
This is lovely!! I would love to expand the doorway - it looks beautiful - but unfortunately we don’t have interior space on the front door or the balcony door. I’m attaching a photo of our front hallway. We think that a previous owner narrowed this hallway by a couple of feet to expand the size of the kitchen (see where they cut into the frame of the door). Which is a huge bummer because it gives us a very narrow space! Will definitely look for a carriage light. That’s looks really nice. I also like the landscaping but we do need the sidewalk because our garage and parking area is in the back of the house. A front walk from the porch would go out to our driveway. I’m attaching a photo from our porch - sorry, its pretty grey and stormy today and the wind is in the process of blowing our mat away.
tatts
6 years ago
No to shutters. There isn't room on the ground floor to have properly sized shutters, and they would only serve to highlight the fact that the house isn't symmetrical. They'd make it look lopsided, with some brick showing on the left but not the right.
Adrienne P.
6 years ago
i have yews in front of my colonial. they are 100 years old though, so tbey are quite large. maybe consider yews? they are poisonous to digest but my children dont play near them.
User
6 years ago
So this is the side entrance, technically? Or is that a street in front of us?
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
Yes, this is the view from our side entrance to the yard and driveway. Our driveway runs parallel to the house and perpendicular to the road. Curves around just past the house to the detached garage in back.
ourfarmhouse
6 years ago
So here is a version on the previous concept, but going back to the single door for both the entry and above the porch. I think the entry door could be a color (like sage green) that complements the brick. The door above the porch could go back to trim color (white or ivory) to keep it from competing with the entry door and to help it to blend in a little bit more with what's going on with the rest of the windows.

This mockup shows how you could introduce the curve in the landscaping (softening the strong lines of the house) and still have the sidewalk moving in the current direction. A row of hostas would soften the hardscape even further and match the era of the house.
User
6 years ago
I don't think the interior is what's making you consider this as the front of the house though, is it? Can people enter from the "side" (facing the street?) If so, then landscaping that to be an entry would be better imho...
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
Nope, can’t enter through the front. I wish we could! It’s pretty close to the road and far from the garage/parking. There are also trees planted between the road and the porch. I’ll have to grab a picture when I get home today because it’s hard to visualize. I imagine that the traditional foursquare porch was the original entry point when the road was smaller and it changed over the years, finalizing when they built the garage and paved the driveway. We are trying to find the original plans for our house but since we live in a rural already and it was built in the early 20s, it’s not easy. :(
User
6 years ago
I'm interested...are those the only stairs in the house?

I'm wondering if it was built with an express purpose, like a doctors house who also saw patients, necessitating a side entrance. Or a boarding house.

I feel as if, if this were my house, I would become obsessed with the history of it... :)
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
This is my professional rendering of the placement of buildings. The garage is a little off here, it’s actually set back a little further. There’s a sidewalk between the back entryway and garage that snakes around to the side (main) entry.
visualizemaven
6 years ago
I would like to see your trim painted a cool spring green color like Sherwin Williams Sally Green SW6416. With the red out buildings it could look really sharp.
User
6 years ago
Do you have a floor plan? I'm sorry this is just complete curiosity on my part, so don't put yourself out if it's inconvenient..

I think that need to leave green barrier as is to muffle any street noise from your busy road honk honk... :)
j s
Original Author
6 years ago
This is a very, very rough sketch of our downstairs floor plan using the picture from yesterday. Unlike any other foursquare I’ve seen. The dimensions are a little off (laundry room is not quite so big) but I didn’t use measurements, just a rough idea of layout.
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Bit like this, maybe..?

file:///home/chronos/u-5dc9aedc8b38e973ffc87901c04666e17ec18d4a/Downloads/All%20sizes%20_%20Gordon-Van%20Tine%20House%20Plans%20_%20Flickr%20-%20Photo%20Sharing!.mhtml
Robert Scott
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
This thread is just what I was looking for! We're considering purchasing this Prairie Box / 4-square / asymmetrical prairie. It has a side entrance (the alcove on the left). We're disappointed with the curb appeal and considering, 1) Extending the roof of the front right sunroom to a full front porch, 2) replacing the left windows with a front door (converting the current entrance into a sun/room alcove of the formal dining room, and 3) perhaps converting the front to a flat roof with "x" railings or other features like those others have added photos to here. What are the groups thoughts?
Marie Morrison
2 years ago
We have a four-square house built in 1920 and have been researching how to improve curb appeal also! Glad I found this thread. My thoughts regarding the house you're considering would be to extend the roof of the front right sunroom to a full front porch. That would present a symmetrical appearance on the street side. We actually have a defined side entrance and a front porch with the main entrance, but the driveway goes to the side door. The builder of the home was a doctor, and he used the side entrance for patients. There was also a back door to the house, and an exterior door to the kitchen (the kitchen was built as a separate building that abuts the back of the house).
Robert Scott
2 years ago
Here's a house of that style.