The Doar House Renovation
Updating A Historic Home to Suite Modern Family Living
Every town has a few of these… a beautiful historic home with amazing charm and curb appeal. Open the front door though and you’ll find that the house was designed for a different era. How do you keep all of the beautiful historic parts of a century old home and sensitively renovate the home to add modern bathrooms, a new kitchen, and add a master bedroom to suite a modern lifestyle?
This Summerville, SC home is a beautiful Victorian originally built by William Richardson in 1886. Built before Richardson became mayor of Summerville, the home has become part of Summerville’s history and the street on which he built his home is now named in his honor. The home is however is best known as the Doar House, named after Richardson’s daughter “Miss Daisy” Doar who married William H. Doar and made a home for her family here.
When our clients bought this magnificent Summerville historic home, they loved the large wrap around porch. They were charmed by the original heart pine floors in all the homes principal first floor rooms, as well as the transom windows over the interior doors, the original fireplaces and the trim detail. What they didn’t like was the laundry, bathrooms, and kitchen, while updated and functional,they were tiny uncomfortable rooms that did not suit a modern lifestyle. They asked for help to to figure out how to renovate these outdated rooms.
Our goal was to leave the magnificent principal rooms intact and rework all of the ‘back of house’ spaces to increase the functionality and make them fully comfortable for a modern family lifestyle. The renovation included enlarging the kitchen by poaching space from a lower level back hall, designing a new modern Master Bedroom suite, and renovating 2 of the other bathrooms.
The homeowners, scouring salvage yards and antique stores found two doors that they refinished themselves. My personal favorite is the Principal’s door, located at the back of the kitchen.
Aliar Homes-Charleston was selected as the builder for the renovation of this historic Summerville home and won a local Prism award and a state Pinacle award for this sensitive renovation.
Image Gallery
Builder: Alair Homes-Charleston
Photography: Patrick Brickman
From Rachel’s Desk
Five ArCH 2018 Design Excellence Awards for Swallowtail Architecture
Architects Creating Homes’ has awarded Swallowtail Architecture, working in Charleston, another five residential design awards for 2018. The ArCH Design Excellence in Residential Design is an international competition and the winners were announced in May 2018.
Home Builder for Richardson Project Wins Local PRISM Award
The Charleston Home Builders Association recently awarded Alair Homes-Charleston the PRISM Award for their work on The Doar House Renovation. They were awarded in one of the Best Remodeled Home categories. Architect Rachel Burton of Swallowtail Architecture designed the renovation of this 1886 home in Summerville, SC.
Home Designed by Swallowtail Wins Pinnacle Award
The Home Builders Association of South Carolina recently awarded Alair Homes Charleston the Pinacle Awards for their work on The Doar House Renovation. Architect Rachel Burton of Swallowtail Architecture designed the renovation of this 1886 [...]
