Houzz Tours
AIASF Marin Home Tour: The Lovell House
Houzz is glad to partner with the AIASF and cover their upcoming Marin Living Home Tours on May 15. Comment on this ideabook for your chance to win a ticket to the tour. See more details at the end of this interview.
The Lovell House was originally an 1,100 square foot mid-century modern house that was deemed a tear-down by the neighbors. However, architects Cecilia and Alfred Quezada saw its potential and lovingly restored it and added on to it for over a decade.
1) First of all, thank you for preserving and restoring a charming yet dilapidated mid-century house that everyone else had deemed "The Teardown". It's an inspiration, and I hope that seeing it will inspire more people to follow suit. Just how bad was the condition of the house when you first saw it?
Well, I think they were actually being nice when they called it "the teardown".Daylight was visible through large cracks in the walls and water would trickled down the inside of the windows when it rained. All of the 3 main decks had rotted off so we had doors that opened to 10' plus drops and when we ripped off the interior wood paneling that was covered in cat hair, we discovered in the place of insulation were
millions of spider webs. I guess that qualifies it as really bad. That said, we probably would have saved a lot of money and headache if we would have torn it down and started anew but it isn't nearly as good a story and of course, we slept better at night knowing we were doing the right thing.
2) Please give our readers who cannot make it to the tour a quick description of the neighborhood/context of the site.
We bought the house because it reminded us of a modern tree house. It's a beautiful wooded canyon site at the base of Mt. Tamalpais nestled amongst the oaks and redwoods but still walking distance to the quaint downtown of Mill Valley. There is seasonal creek that runs through the property that when running, sounds and smells like you are living in a national park. It is pretty much paradise.
3) This was originally a 1,100 square foot, fifties modern home. How did you honor the original structure while expanding it to make it more livable? What cues did you take from the shape, style, and materials?
The original house was a single, shed roof box with redwood siding and large wood and steel windows. When we did the major expansion in 1997, we mimicked the shed roof form to oppose the original and separated the two forms with a breezeway cover
by a steel and glass canopy. We try to honor the integrity of the original design and reuse as much of the original house/ materials as possible. Upon completion, we invited the elderly original owner back to see what we had done and he gave us the
best compliment we could gotten... he wished he could have done it himself.
4) Please tell us more about the translucent roof - what is the light like? How does the area stay cool in the summer?
It took us several years to design the final addition of the kitchen and den as the
house at the time was really a complete form. We chose the translucent roof as a way
of getting morning light into a west facing kitchen. There is a large redwood tree
on the side patio which overhangs the roof so in the late afternoon, the shadows of
the branches move across the ceiling. This type of roof helps to keep you connect to
the outside as the light changes throughout the day and there is no question as to
whether it is raining outside. To cool the space, we put a large pivot bay window
that works as a trom wall to collect the heat.
5) So many of your professional projects are large scale corporate designs. How much of this job was similar to on of those projects and how much was different? Did any issues arise that were new to you? If so, what kinds of issues?
Having all of the commercial experience helped us think outside the residential "box" per say. Many of the materials we used are not typical residential materials i.e.- translucent roof panels, sand blasted glass walls, large steel panels, and leather tiles walls. Really the main issue we encountered was almost knowing too much... it was very difficult for us to make final decisions on materials with so much to choose from and having to live every day with these decisions.
6) This was a labor of love of yours for many years. Please give our readers your best advice for surviving a remodel.
A large contingency for therapy sessions built into the construction budget. No really, just a lot of patience and a contractor you trust. Remodeling/ construction
is a very daunting process (even for us professionals) and living through it is not always comfortable but it is well worth it. If married, a spouse with a similar
design sensibility helps to minimize the stress as well.
7) When designing residences, what kinds of features do you feel make a house a home?
No matter the style of the house, first and foremost the plan layout must accommodate the lifestyle of the client. For us, once we built the new kitchen and
den, we basically didn't use the rest of the house. Having a great kitchen is a large majority of what makes a home and keeping the rest of the house flexible for an ever changing lifestyle is key.
8) Please tell those attending the tour some of your favorite details and/or features that they should take notice of while on the tour.
Because we spent endless hours on details and we had to live with our own work, practically every detail in the house was painstakingly poured over. We are very proud of the detailing, materiality, and the craftsmanship. We used the house as a lab for many of our other projects. Our attention to detail is our gift and our curse at the same time. We architects are our worst clients!!
Thank you for sharing this inspiring project with us! I hope it inspired others to pause before tearing something down.
The AIASF is giving away a ticket to the Marin home tour to one of the lucky readers that will share their thoughts about this house and interview.
For your chance to win the ticket to the Marin Living Home Tours, comment on this interview by Thursday, May 13, at 5pm EST.
The Lovell House was originally an 1,100 square foot mid-century modern house that was deemed a tear-down by the neighbors. However, architects Cecilia and Alfred Quezada saw its potential and lovingly restored it and added on to it for over a decade.
1) First of all, thank you for preserving and restoring a charming yet dilapidated mid-century house that everyone else had deemed "The Teardown". It's an inspiration, and I hope that seeing it will inspire more people to follow suit. Just how bad was the condition of the house when you first saw it?
Well, I think they were actually being nice when they called it "the teardown".Daylight was visible through large cracks in the walls and water would trickled down the inside of the windows when it rained. All of the 3 main decks had rotted off so we had doors that opened to 10' plus drops and when we ripped off the interior wood paneling that was covered in cat hair, we discovered in the place of insulation were
millions of spider webs. I guess that qualifies it as really bad. That said, we probably would have saved a lot of money and headache if we would have torn it down and started anew but it isn't nearly as good a story and of course, we slept better at night knowing we were doing the right thing.
2) Please give our readers who cannot make it to the tour a quick description of the neighborhood/context of the site.
We bought the house because it reminded us of a modern tree house. It's a beautiful wooded canyon site at the base of Mt. Tamalpais nestled amongst the oaks and redwoods but still walking distance to the quaint downtown of Mill Valley. There is seasonal creek that runs through the property that when running, sounds and smells like you are living in a national park. It is pretty much paradise.
3) This was originally a 1,100 square foot, fifties modern home. How did you honor the original structure while expanding it to make it more livable? What cues did you take from the shape, style, and materials?
The original house was a single, shed roof box with redwood siding and large wood and steel windows. When we did the major expansion in 1997, we mimicked the shed roof form to oppose the original and separated the two forms with a breezeway cover
by a steel and glass canopy. We try to honor the integrity of the original design and reuse as much of the original house/ materials as possible. Upon completion, we invited the elderly original owner back to see what we had done and he gave us the
best compliment we could gotten... he wished he could have done it himself.
4) Please tell us more about the translucent roof - what is the light like? How does the area stay cool in the summer?
It took us several years to design the final addition of the kitchen and den as the
house at the time was really a complete form. We chose the translucent roof as a way
of getting morning light into a west facing kitchen. There is a large redwood tree
on the side patio which overhangs the roof so in the late afternoon, the shadows of
the branches move across the ceiling. This type of roof helps to keep you connect to
the outside as the light changes throughout the day and there is no question as to
whether it is raining outside. To cool the space, we put a large pivot bay window
that works as a trom wall to collect the heat.
5) So many of your professional projects are large scale corporate designs. How much of this job was similar to on of those projects and how much was different? Did any issues arise that were new to you? If so, what kinds of issues?
Having all of the commercial experience helped us think outside the residential "box" per say. Many of the materials we used are not typical residential materials i.e.- translucent roof panels, sand blasted glass walls, large steel panels, and leather tiles walls. Really the main issue we encountered was almost knowing too much... it was very difficult for us to make final decisions on materials with so much to choose from and having to live every day with these decisions.
6) This was a labor of love of yours for many years. Please give our readers your best advice for surviving a remodel.
A large contingency for therapy sessions built into the construction budget. No really, just a lot of patience and a contractor you trust. Remodeling/ construction
is a very daunting process (even for us professionals) and living through it is not always comfortable but it is well worth it. If married, a spouse with a similar
design sensibility helps to minimize the stress as well.
7) When designing residences, what kinds of features do you feel make a house a home?
No matter the style of the house, first and foremost the plan layout must accommodate the lifestyle of the client. For us, once we built the new kitchen and
den, we basically didn't use the rest of the house. Having a great kitchen is a large majority of what makes a home and keeping the rest of the house flexible for an ever changing lifestyle is key.
8) Please tell those attending the tour some of your favorite details and/or features that they should take notice of while on the tour.
Because we spent endless hours on details and we had to live with our own work, practically every detail in the house was painstakingly poured over. We are very proud of the detailing, materiality, and the craftsmanship. We used the house as a lab for many of our other projects. Our attention to detail is our gift and our curse at the same time. We architects are our worst clients!!
Thank you for sharing this inspiring project with us! I hope it inspired others to pause before tearing something down.
The AIASF is giving away a ticket to the Marin home tour to one of the lucky readers that will share their thoughts about this house and interview.
For your chance to win the ticket to the Marin Living Home Tours, comment on this interview by Thursday, May 13, at 5pm EST.