Total renovation

A design gumbo of West Indies and French Quarter styles-- along with materials salvaged from an old Mississippi jail-create a winning mix for this makeover.

Twenty-five years is ample time for a family to grow accustomed to living in the same house, don't you think? Not so for Gay and Martin Flanagan. With two teenagers, daughter Jackson and son Silas, and an assortment of pets, the Flanagans had just about overtaken every available inch of living space in their 1,650square-foot home. The house, located in a quiet Baton Rouge neighborhood, was quaint and cozy in its own right, but because of their active family, something had to give. "The growing demands of teenage children pushed us to look for a larger house," Martin remembers. "After a search that ended empty-handed, we decided to add on to the existing structure." That's when the project really took off.

Bayou Build-up

Gay and Martin settled upon a plan that encompassed their house in a much larger scheme. The couple envisioned a two-story addition containing a new kitchen and living area, along with an upstairs master suite extension to the front of the house. This addition and a new detached garage and workshop were centered around a secluded courtyard. All of the pieces were pulled together by a veranda, which defined the courtyard. Still, there was something missing. "The plans satisfied our needs," states Martin, "but they lacked character."

"This is where the plot thickens," explains architect Kevin Harris, who helped the Flanagans shape their goals into reality. "When Martin shared that he had inherited some rural property in Mississippi, he also mentioned an abandoned house on the land that had been his childhood home." With the possibility of salvaging some of the materials in the old house, Martin and builder Bobby DeVillier drove to Mississippi for a look. What they found surprised both men. Upon inspection, they discovered that the old homestead contained about twice as much lumber as typical house construction would require. "Growing up in this house," Martin recalls, "my parents told me the structure had originally been a jail, but I never put much faith in this. After all, it always looked like a house to me."

Piecing Together the Clues

The true evidence emerged when the crew began dismantling the windows. With the removal of one of the casings, Martin uncovered a series of evenly spaced holes on each side of the opening. After finding the same telltale signs in other casings, he concluded one thing: These holes once held iron bars.

Another item that the Flanagans salvaged was the brick that made up the old chimney and foundation. Bearing the inscription "GREENVILLE MISS," these masonry units had apparently been made about 10 miles west of the site in Greenville. After transporting all this material back to Baton Rouge, Martin began a fivemonth task of cleaning, planing, sanding, and sorting the lumber for both select and framing use. He also set aside choice planks, which were resawn at a mill for the new kitchen cabinetry. Out of curiosity, Martin sent some wood samples to nearby LSU to have them analyzed. The results indicated that the lumber had been cut from mature red gum trees that were more than 100 years old-in 1890.

With such a rich palette of materials to reuse, Martin and Gay were ready to incorporate them into their renovation. The result pleased both the homeowners and architect. "These wonderful salvaged items enabled the new design to take on a style reminiscent of the West Indies with a French Quarter flair," explains Kevin. "Likewise, the house is better suited to the semitropical climate of Baton Rouge."

Inviting Verandas

Now enlarged to 3,100 square feet, the home features creamy stuccoed walls, whitewashed brick, and stately columns. An arched gateway leads to the main veranda, just off the courtyard. Inside, the new living room and kitchen gleam with the richness of the salvaged wood. On one of the interior columns, the architect, builder, and almost every member of the building team wrote their names as a sign of pride over ajob well done. Back on the veranda, a stairway leads to a secondfloor gallery that overlooks the front yard and courtyard. Attached to the upper gallery is the master suite. "What satisfies me the most about this house," Martin concludes with a smile, "is that I now sleep under the same rafters as I did as a kid." ROBERT MARTIN

TOTAL RENOVATION

Pages 152-154: Architecture by Kevin Harris, AIA, Baton Rouge, (225) 924-7450; builder was Bobby DeVillier, Rosepoint Renovations, Baton Rouge, (225) 753-0515.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Mar 2003
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