Before & After: This 1881 Schoolhouse Conversion Is a Master Class in Adaptive Reuse

Bowerbird Architects preserved the building’s windows, wainscot, and chalk rail while converting it into a three-bedroom getaway in upstate New York.

Aug 28, 2024 - 17:34

Before & After: This 1881 Schoolhouse Conversion Is a Master Class in Adaptive Reuse

Bowerbird Architects preserved the building’s windows, wainscot, and chalk rail while converting it into a three-bedroom getaway in upstate New York.

Much of the home’s exterior was preserved. The siding is painted Benjamin Moore

Brooklynites Joel Edmondson and Mimia Johnson did not consider themselves historic preservationists when they bought a one-room schoolhouse built in 1881 just outside Hudson, New York. But the charm of some buildings is hard to resist.

They first toured the structure on a gloomy April day in 2021. There was no electricity, yet the extra-tall windows on all sides lit up the interior on that gray afternoon. "It was welcoming, but it also made you feel humbled at the same time, like you’re moving through history a little bit," says Joel. "We were excited about the potential: How could we honor the history, but also reinvent it?"

Before: Exterior

Before: The 1881 schoolhouse outside Hudson, New York, had sat vacant for a while before Joel Edmondson and Mimia Johnson bought it to convert into a single-family home. — Before: This 1881 schoolhouse near Hudson, New York, had sat vacant for years before Joel Edmondson and Mimia Johnson bought it and set about converting it into a single-family home.
Courtesy of Bowerbird Architects

Joel and Mimia—he’s a furniture designer and she’s a creative director—originally met in art school. Now that their careers were well underway and they had a newborn baby, they were looking for a place outside the city—and a creative project that they could tackle together. Still, there was no rush.