Are you planning to add a garage to the front as shown in your mockup? If so would you be building an add-on (ie extending that side toward the road further) or going into the existing structure (ie through the large chimney)?

I agree that a unified siding will reduce the "two houses" look. You'll also want to draw more attention to the door. I'm assuming the main door is the one tucked back in the centre, not the one on the far left, yes? I wonder about adding a portico in the centre to draw the eye towards the entrance and add another roofline to visually bridge the two halves.

Sorry. I did not explain well. The white side of the house had a pool on the first floor. The filled it in and cemented the floor. I am planning on turning that area into the garage. I also thought about something to bridge the two sides but I am wondering how that will work with the two sides being different heights. Thanks again for the help !!

The brick is the nicer (and historic?) part so I certainly wouldn’t cover that. Lots of brick buildings have secondary portions in ‘lessor’ materials. Stucco always works well with brick, but your current siding isn’t terrible. The large chimney on the later portion in red brick is a bit massive.

HALLETT & Co. is right - Please don't muck up the brick side - that's the side that has architectural integrity. Do this right - don't bastardize things more than they already are!

Can you clear up if we are looking at the front or the rear elevation?

If this were mine I'd hire a professional architect to figure out how to make this work. It could happen a few ways. One way that these things work is when there is a clear and distinctive break between the old and the new: They should complement each other but not look the same.

The brick house should be preserved/restored. Please don't alter the windows, doors or outside trim of the original structure. I think that modifications can be made to the new structure and the way that they connect to make the whole thing more harmonious - but trying to make them look like one structure would be a huge mistake.

Again, I think the original building warrants that you spend some resources on a professional - not online suggestions.

Here is an example of a commercial building where they had a historic original structure and added a new- very contemporary structure. It's joined by a glass atrium. There is no confusing the old and the new - yet they both look great together.

I agree that Hallett & Co and Jake have the right idea.

If you are looking to keep it essentially the same and not make expensive changes at the moment, consider painting the white siding a color that blends with your brick so that visually it won't jump out as two houses.

Then take your time with an architect to design your permanent changes.

That's a very good plan you have to remodel the lower level that has the concrete fill to a garage and remove the chimney from the front, also installing the driveway in front to it and removing that tree from in front of the house would make it look like one house, I'd do these things FIRST and then decide on siding SECOND. My opinion.

The pictures are a side view. However, the way the house sits this would be the "Front" door we would have people use.

Some thoughts:

--The brick looks wonderful. I'm with Team Don't Paint it. The bright white side stands out because of all the white.

--Set aside a decent budget to get beautiful landscaping on the house side. I'm never one to cut down a tree, but that one is blocking the house's best side. A andscape designer will probably recommend that. Remove the brick retaining wall entirely. Use your budget to get landscaping that leads to the house side. A border on the right of shrubs, perennials, grasses, etc. will create a better wall than the retaining wall and will look much nicer.

--Since you have a gray roof, paint the white trim on the brick side the same gray, the middle gray, and the garage side gray. Add a brightly painted door to put a spotlight on the entryway.

Here's a yellow brick house with gray roof and trim. You could go a bit darker on the gray.

--

Can you post a pic of the actual original front of the house?

Front from road

Front

Wow! Just Wow! That looks like a really wonderful house and an amazing site. Looks like Maryland or PA.

You have a whole lot of amazing stuff to work with -- but you will need professional design help.

You are kind of lucky because it looks like you have the addition that you could live in while working on the old part of the house.

My focus would be on the old part of the house and getting that right.

But what you need is an overall plan that you can do over time that is do-able.

I would try to keep the chimney and have your garage entry on the side (speaking from the vantage of the first photos) -- nobody wants garages to dominate their front if they don't have to!

I would make the front of the brick house work as designed, even moving the drive if necessary. Then you can have the garage on the sided back house not stealing the interest from the actual historic portion of your property when one approaches it. Do you have any aerial views of the way the home is approached from the road/street?

Red line is road. Original 3 pictures at the top of post is taken from the parking area below the house in this picture

OTOH, here is a less successful blending of old and new--Soldier Field in Chicago...

Wonderful house ...lovely old section .., and yes lovely stone section for those that always keep the stones and never paint them . BUT to blend it and transform it into one gorgeous stately home , I would paint the brick section white ..then put in a beautiful drive way and landscape with beautiful trees ...
I'm s the way I see it .

skunst2017

Setting aside ruining a historic structure for just a moment, painting brick is virtually always a terrible idea.

Restored, the older home is just fine. It's not possible to make "the two structures into one" without destroying much of the intrinsic value - the result would be a muddled mess.

There are things that can be done to the newer part to make it more harmonious.

The newer part has some interesting proportions, etc. but has no real design.

What's more, making changes to the newer part are easier since it's wood.

I echo the idea others have stated about considering changes to the driveway to make sure the "side" doesn't effectively become the front of the house - esp if that means garage doors on the new "front".

If it's necessary to make the side of the house into the main entrance then the parking / garage should be behind the house.

Agreed with others- don’t change the integrity of the historic structure and consult an architect on plans for garage (not loving it being in such a visible side of the home that is planned o be used as entry- could the garage door be put around the corner on the way back of the house?)

A couple of other thoughts:

1. make the white section a darker color- perhaps a shade or two darker than your darkest brick color on original portion- to attempt to get it to ‘recede’ more in the overall elevation.
2. whoever’s idea it was to remove the siding and stucco there instead was good. You could go with a darker stucco (see point 1) and this would also allow you to grow vines over the newer section, further ‘receding’ it from view.
3. big landscaping changes. Remove shrubby trees hiding the historic portions, and plant some well-places trees that will obscure the view of the newer section from the road/approach to house.
4. the front door/porch area of the historic section, even if not planned for utilitarian use, needs attention/resources. This is the natural focal point and should be restored to original or guided by professional that specializes in historic homes.

Beautiful home and property!

I have worked in the historic preservation side of architecture and one of the guiding principles is let an addition to a home, building, etc. look like an addition. That being said this is your home and you should make it yours. However, I don't mind the disparity between the two portion of your home. I might suggest painting the connector portion of the house to match the siding. I would concentrate on landscaping and would certainly either trim back or remove the tree adjacent to the house. It's a beautiful home! Good luck!

Agree with P.D. Schlitz

That porch is pretty key to the front - would be great to understand what's under that and what that was originally.

So a couple more very general thoughts about this:

The house has been here probably three of Mr. Miller's lifetimes. Rather than "owner" a better concept would be "temporary caretaker". One of the first guiding principles should be, "First, do no harm". There are obvious things that would do permanent damage - such as painting the brick, altering windows and doors, etc. But even less permanent things can muddle the picture over time.

The other point is that if the previous owner had used a professional to do the basic design before building the addition, we wouldn't be in the position of trying to un-muddle this now. Don't repeat the mistake that the previous owner made.

I've been watching a series called "Restoration Man" in which very old homes/structures are being rescued and made livable for today. In this series, it appears the local authorities over 4-500 year old landmarks are requiring that any additions be distinctly new so that the historic structure is never muddled or confused for future generations, but retains its separate identity from say, a glass and steel extension. Interesting concept. I suggest you eliminate the parking and move the drive entry more directly in front of the older home, directly from the road. Loop it to the right and do your garage in the new back house with a generous parking pad/ turning area toward the right side of your proposed garage. Then enclose the recessed entry between the buildings as a nice screened spot to sit/eat outside. To visually connect the two buildings, you might span the recessed porch entrance with a pergola linking the two. Adding pretty blooming vines to it will soften the connection. If you think you'd get more use out of it with a patio, add one there at the connection point.