Remodeling a Seattle Tudor reveals its original grace

photographed by Benjamin Benschneider

JOHN AND Sallie Chaney moved to Windermere, a northeast Seattle neighborhood boasting Lake Washington access and views of Mount Rainier, in 1993. They remodeled a rambler into a more traditional home that fit their style, but they always wanted to be on the water. After watching real estate at the water's edge for a long time and seeing nothing come up for sale they could afford, they finally bought a small cottage on Riviera Place waterfront, which the Johnson Partnership remodeled for them.

Then, as luck would have it, a friend mentioned that an older waterfront property was finally for sale in their preferred neighborhood.

The large lot and the waterfront location were perfect; street appeal was not. Previous owners had, in 1969, added a modern-style art studio and a carport that hid the house from the street. To the casual observer, it was nondescript. But if the clues to its origins were hidden at the front, the unchanged back of the house revealed a handsome Tudor-style residence which had been designed by Seattle architect Arthur Loveless.

Built in 1928-29 for the new and exclusive subdivision developed by the Colman family, the house was designed for Frank Pierce, an author of Western novels who sought a quiet retreat in which to write. His family lived in the house for 40 years.

While the kitchen had been given a cosmetic makeover with dark-stained laminate cabinetry years ago, all the house systems were original — and failing. Single-pane windows wouldn't shut properly. There was no insulation. Water collected in the basement and drained on the hillside.

While the Chaneys decided to retain the studio addition and adapt it as a library and guest room, they wanted to return as closely as possible to the street appearance of the house when it was built. Any additions would be in keeping with the English-style, stucco-and-wood vocabulary of the original.

The Johnson Partnership has a strong history of restoring, renovating and designing appropriate additions to older homes. Larry Johnson and Howard Miller were up to the challenge. Johnson's research unearthed an early rendering of the house, and this became their guide, along with King County assessor's photographs from the late 1930s. The goal was to remove the carport, add a more appropriate garage that no longer blocked the view of the house, and restore character-defining features to the front of the house that had been lost for so many years.

Inside, they would update the mechanical and electrical systems, the kitchens and bathrooms, create a more generous entrance hall and powder room, make minor adjustments to the living and dining rooms, and rearrange the upper floor to bring more light into the hallway and master bedroom while making the master bath bigger. A second goal was to enhance the connection of the house to the lake below by adding a cabana that would match the style of the house.

As soon as the carport was down, neighbors remarked, "Wow, I can see why you bought the house now." The new front entrance is more dominant than the 1929 original, with an entry porch under a timber-frame gabled roof. From the new garage, a timber-frame, trellis-covered pathway leads to what had been the original garage but has become a side entrance to the mudroom and kitchen. The landscape here and at the back of the house features both native and nonnative plants that require little maintenance.

After all the hard work, the Chaneys have finally created the traditional house of their dreams in the neighborhood they always wanted.

Lawrence Kreisman is program director of Historic Seattle and author of "The Arts and Crafts Movement in the Pacific Northwest." Benjamin Benschneider is a Pacific Northwest staff photographer.