house& home | January 2012 | house andhomeonline.com 24 A family’s Old Sixth Ward cottage harmonizes with a contemporary addition that proves to be more compliment than harsh contrast BY SANDRA COOK • PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIRO DVORSCAK HISTORIC COLLABORATION The Ansells are a family of independent creative thinkers. When the Ansells first drove through the Old Sixth Ward Historic District in 1998, they were taken with the narrow brick streets and the small-scale architecture of the original homes, many dating from the 1870s to 1890s. The historic blocks were part of the land purchase made by the Allen brothers when they founded Houston in the 1830s. The Ansells managed to buy three consecutive houses and moved into one, while renting out two of the small homes. The Ansells have taken an enlightened preservationist approach to living in the Old Sixth Ward. Between 1998 and 2000, they worked with architects Daniel Dupuis and Gary Eades and Al Morin, Jason Morin and Tom Morin of Morin Contracting to convert the interior of an 1880s cottage into a contemporary, two-level home, with two bedrooms, two baths and a com- bination kitchen/living space, all while preserving the historic exterior. (This project was fea- tured in the February 2002 issue of Houston House & Home) Such a clever and meticulous approach to preservation was bound to result when this partic- ular couple collaborates with a strong architectural team. Bennie Flores Ansell is a talented artist who creates sculptural assemblages by arranging dozens, sometimes hundreds of her own photos to create one broader piece of art, among other creations. She also teaches art at Houston Community College’s Central Campus. David Ansell is psychiatrist with a private practice. Their two teenage daughters Zoe and Thora are active, intelligent young ladies who grew up in the Old Sixth Ward.
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house& home | Januar y 2012 | house and home on l ine . com24
A family’s Old Sixth Ward cottage harmonizes with a contemporary addition that proves to be more
compliment than harsh contrastBY SANDRA COOK • PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIRO DVORSCAK
HISTORIC COLLABORATION
The Ansells are a family of independent creative thinkers. When the Ansells first drove throughthe Old Sixth Ward Historic District in 1998, they were taken with the narrow brick streetsand the small-scale architecture of the original homes, many dating from the 1870s to 1890s.The historic blocks were part of the land purchase made by the Allen brothers when theyfounded Houston in the 1830s. The Ansells managed to buy three consecutive houses andmoved into one, while renting out two of the small homes.
The Ansells have taken an enlightened preservationist approach to living in the Old SixthWard. Between 1998 and 2000, they worked with architects Daniel Dupuis and Gary Eadesand Al Morin, Jason Morin and Tom Morin of Morin Contracting to convert the interior of an1880s cottage into a contemporary, two-level home, with two bedrooms, two baths and a com-bination kitchen/living space, all while preserving the historic exterior. (This project was fea-tured in the February 2002 issue of Houston House & Home)
Such a clever and meticulous approach to preservation was bound to result when this partic-ular couple collaborates with a strong architectural team. Bennie Flores Ansell is a talentedartist who creates sculptural assemblages by arranging dozens, sometimes hundreds of her ownphotos to create one broader piece of art, among other creations. She also teaches art atHouston Community College’s Central Campus. David Ansell is psychiatrist with a privatepractice. Their two teenage daughters Zoe and Thora are active, intelligent young ladies whogrew up in the Old Sixth Ward.
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ABOVE: In 2000, Architects Daniel Dupuis and Gary Eades, along with Morin Contracting, transformed the interior of the Ansells’ 1885 cottage by vaulting the ceiling and installing an industrial-lookwalkway leading to a second-floor master bedroom. The exterior remains authentically 1880s, while the walls and floors utilize the original wood and character of the cottage. A photograph of dryerlint by Linda Hayward covers the pantry door just off the kitchen. In the front sitting area, two small pieces by Matthew Sontheimer hang on the front wall of the house.
OPPOSITE: The Ansells designed the fences and gates to be consistent with the two-house concept of their 2010 addition. With the inside of the house being so open, the fences and flower bedsprovide privacy, herbs for cooking, habitat for wildlife and add splashes of bright colors. The respectful addition won a GHPA Good Brick Award in 2011.
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Bennie’s creativity, David’s careful, analytical nature and the girls’ energy and zeal all played intodesign and character of their current home, completed in 2010. When they wanted more space, theAnsells didn’t build a great big, brand new house, they built a contemporary, yet complementaryhouse next to their remodeled 1880s cottage and connected the two with a glass bridge.
The Ansells turned to Framework Design, a firm known for their innovative projects involving con-temporary additions to historic structures. Framework’s principals Joe Meppelink and Marisa Januszalso happen to be Old Sixth Ward residents and good friends.
Was it risky to hire good friends to design the addition to their home? Some might say yes, butBennie, David, Meppelink and Janusz agreed that they could set aside egos and personal feelings inpursuit of the strongest design solutions. And they must have meant it, because the met frequentlyduring the design process with went through several evolutions over more than two years. The twocouples remain great friends and neighbors today.
ABOVE: In the original cottage, kitchendesigned by Dupuis and Eades in 2000 wasready for a few adjustments after 10 years ofservice, so architectural designers JoeMeppelink and Marisa Janusz made minorupdates to the cabinetry and storage areas.
OPPOSITE: A painting by Greg Donner hangs onthe wall enclosing the master bath on the sec-ond level. The interior of the original cottage canbe surveyed from the metal catwalk (crafted byTom Morin). Artworks in the front sitting areainclude a drawing by Matthew Sontheimer and asmall installation by Elena Lopez Poirot.
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The Ansells wanted to create a bit more living space, separaterooms for girls who had been sharing one room and the main-floor bath. They also wanted to establish space for Bennie’s studioand have a separate, private office for David’s practice. Anotherbig challenge was to find room for a pool and some green spaceto coexist. To facilitate this project the Ansells sold one of thethree small homes, located at the north end of their three-lot par-cel. With two remaining homes, the chose to make the southern-most home David’s office and moved it as close to the corner aspermitted to make room for their addition.
HIRING YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
“We all sort of gave a little,” says homeowner Bennie FloresAnsell.
“You don’t have to [already] be friends with a client to imaginebeing friends,” says architectural designer Joe Meppelink. “Right,especially when you’re dealing with something as personal assomeone’s home,” says designer Marisa Janusz.
It’s not purely a business transaction, but it’s not purely anemotional transaction either,” says Meppelink. “It’s a hybrid.”
“To their credit, the Ansells are incredibly creative,” says
After waking up in the wee hours to sketch out pool placement options, she saw a small pool with a bridge built over it in a magazine. That was it! She realized the pool could fit under thebridge between the old and new structures and emailed Meppelink and Janusz at 4 a.m.
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Bennie treasures how her studio desk sits at the window facing inward toward the old house and pool, allowing her to feel connected to those areas while she’s working. “I can see who is inthe kitchen and the dining room via the windows, it's a way to be together without being ‘together’.“
Janusz. “They were able to visualize things and put certain piecestogether that other clients might not, such as the pool placementand the glass dining room.”
“It was a remarkable collaboration,” says Meppelink. “The bestprojects always are.”
The concepts and execution of the project not only worked forthe Ansell family, it caught the eye of the Greater HoustonPreservation Alliance, earning one of the organization’s GoodBrick Awards for 2011.
The final design accomplished virtually all of the Ansells goals
and thoroughly, artfully reflects the entire design team’s talentsand abilities. The completed project created a contemporary, liv-able, loveable space for family life, which preserves, respects, andharmonizes with history without insulting it with faux-historicrecreations.
BRIDGE FROM PAST
The Ansells and the Framework designers began with the mindsetof avoiding the look of a giant, glaring addition. As the designconcept developed, they considered the lot limitations, the orien-
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tation of their existing, updated cottage, and the concept of cre-ating the look from the street as if the addition was just anotherhouse on the block.
“Because of the lot limitations and the orientation we cameup with the concept of having the look from the street be thatof another house with an appropriate East-West orientation thatlightly and respectfully articulated with the old one—not com-peting,” says David Ansell. “We wanted it to be distinct, contempo-rary and have references to and in harmony with the old.” Inside the home, the rooms relate more to the North-South axis.
“The view of the pool and the openness of the glass capture most
people's immediate attention,” says David. “For us though, we weresurprised how well it gives the feeling of one house (versus two smallhouses) and how it provides the focal point of converging and tryingto blend old and new.”
“We wanted it to look like two houses from the street,” saysDavid. “We didn’t want the addition to compete with the historicstructures, but we didn’t want it to try to look exactly the same.”
MODERN LIVING SPACE
The interior of the addition begins with the glass-walled diningroom, which connects the old house with its new companion. While
Meppelink and Janusz engineered a steel box window that goes beyond the limits of a typical window. The glass covering stretches past the bound-aries of the opening from the living room, to provide an uninterrupted view of the back yard, as if looking through a wide-angle lens.
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the interior of the historic cottage is finished with a mix of historicmaterials and modern elements, the new structure is true to its era.Pale maple flooring, pristine white walls and contemporary furnitureand artwork assure the viewer they are in a modern space.
Janusz and Meppelink set out to deliver a cohesive whole, encom-passing the older cottage and adding the new spaces. They arepleased that it turned out to be a relatively symmetrical system, or abicameral home with subtle differences on each side.
PONDERING THE POOL
Solving the quandary of where—and how—to fit in a pool and
retain some open grassy and or gravel areas for kids and petsproved to be tricky. Both the Ansells and the Framework design-ers struggled to come up with a desirable solution.
“The pool was one of the most challenging structural featswe’ve ever done,” says Meppelilnk. “All four of us pushed our-selves to make it happen.”
Bennie says that she really wanted a pool and David reallywanted to keep the yard. “I woke up with this problem in myhead really late one night,” says Bennie. “I knew there had to bea way to get a pool into the plan. I drew it several ways on theplans that would not leave David with much yard and then it
The ingenious window brightens the living room and seems to draw the outdoors into the space, where simple, unfussy furnishings encourage relaxation and appreciation of the art (bothBennie’s) and the soothing backyard view.
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was apparent to me after I saw a pool in an ArchitecturalDigest. It was a small lap pool with a bridge going over andit hit me that a thin lap pool could be placed in between thehouses and go under our ‘bridge’ to the new structure. Itwas 4 o’clock in the morning and I had to share my newswith someone, so I emailed Joe and Marisa to let themknow that I figured out where to put the pool and we need-ed to meet first thing in the morning. They both met me attheir office at 8:30 a.m. and were really excited about theidea, they truly helped us make it happen!”
Bennie recalls a delightful moment after moving in whendaughter Thora discovered the pattern of the pool surfacereflecting on the ceiling of the dining room after they whenwe first moved into their expanded home.
“Thora started shouting, ‘Mom, come in here! Come inhere!’,” says Bennie. “She was pointing at the water’s reflec-tion from below onto the ceiling of the dining room. It is itsown art piece and changes with the sunlight and seasons. Asthe day or season changes the light reflected from the poolmoves onto different parts of the architecture.”
“We have less space outside after the addition, but now we actually use our outdoor space better, because of the way the house embraces the outdoors,” says Bennie. “It’s an amaz-ing feeling to drink coffee at the table a take in the view.”
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REWARDS OF RENEWAL
David recalls learning from his father about not throwing away oldthings, just because they look a bit ragged and used. This principle,he realizes, is now woven into the elements of his family’s home.
“Our style is more of rehabilitation/renovation and I liken it topsychotherapy of a house,” says David. “I first learned about thistype of process through working side by side with my father as ayoungster. We plucked still useful, but discarded bicycle frames andgleaned various other parts from trash piles in our neighborhoods.We spent many long hours sanding, straitening, lubricating, polish-ing and painting the parts we had salvaged. We typically added new
parts that suited us, like a new seat and handle bar grips as we didthe final assembly. My friends and I enjoyed countless hours ridingthe bicycles. However, as I reflect back I can now see that I enjoyedthem more because the process my dad had shown me had a magi-cal quality. We had taken something others saw as having no valueand transformed it into something useful, admired and unique.
The glassed-in bridge features a concrete floor, which serves as a distinct transition from the historic pine floors and walls to the new, decidedly contemporary addition. The space functionsas the dining room—the place that brings the family and the two halves of the home together. On the table, the ceramic piece is by David Waddell and Sharon Dennard; one of Bennie’s cre-ations hangs on the wall shielding the stairs. Artwork displayed in the living room, includes (from left to right) a painting by Paula Newton, a hanging installation is Sandra Rivera, and two pho-tographic works by Bennie.
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ABOVE: “There’s a permanence that you feel living here,” says homeowner David Ansell. “This house has been here since 1885. You really get a sense of history.” OPPOSITE: The Ansells designed their own landscaping to accommodate their dogs, the kids sports activities and Bennie’s gardening hobby. They chose materials and colors to complementthe house: white-slabs of limestone, green-zoysia grass, dark grey gravel. As a nod to the old/new concept of their home, the outdoor elements interact in various ways. For example, the lime-stone walkway in the back that goes through the dark gravel and the grass, and, in the front, the limestone and grass interdigitate.
RESOURCES
ARCHITECTURE, 2010: Joe Meppelink and Marisa JanuszFramework Design713.4264630
