How They Pulled It Off: Bringing Daylight Into a Dark San Francisco Victorian
Butler Armsden Architects devised some clever interventions that brightened up the historic townhome's interior.
Butler Armsden Architects devised some clever interventions that brightened up the historic townhome's interior.
Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.
After several years of living in their 1906 Victorian townhome in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood, a young family decided to brighten things up. "Their basic criteria was for a modern, comfortable, and warm home," says Federico Engel, managing principal of San Francisco firm Butler Armsden Architects, who led the renovation alongside senior project manager Trisha Snyder. "To achieve that, we not only wanted to bring in more natural light but celebrate the light." So began an extensive interior update, which touched all four floors of the vertically oriented structure.
In San Francisco, Butler Armsden Architects completed an extensive renovation of a 1906 Victorian townhome centered on maximizing daylight.
Photo: Joe Fletcher
Because of the property’s historic nature, the architects couldn’t change the exterior and instead focused their efforts on the interiors. A tight lot also meant narrow floor plates and limited access to daylight, with adjacent structures to the south and west preventing any windows from being placed on those sides. "For us, creating a balance of light was an important consideration, especially because we were limited on where we could add openings," says Engel.
Opening up the stairwell with glass partitions allowed daylight to penetrate the core of the highly vertical structure. The architects also removed partitions around the kitchen and relocated it to the home’s east end, facing the building’s historic bay window.
Photo: Joe Fletcher
A slat wall in dark walnut adds visual contrast while still allowing daylight to flow through the kitchen pantry on the upper floor and the primary bedroom below.
Photo: Joe Fletcher
See the full story on Dwell.com: How They Pulled It Off: Bringing Daylight Into a Dark San Francisco Victorian
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