A rear addition brings new life to a 150-year old Illinois farmhouse.

After 140 years and 5 generations, a 2-story family farmhouse in St. Clair County, Illinois was feeling its age. While other farmers’ took over cultivating the corn fields that surround it, the great-grandson’s family used it as a rustic weekend get-away. In the spirit of adapting a 19th-century family heirloom to a 21st-century lifestyle, they came to us for an update and rear addition. A normal request turned into a compelling historical adventure for the owners and us.

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Two views of the new outdoor room of the farmhouse.

The basic plan was: all new systems, new windows, siding and roofing, more bathrooms (it had only one), more bedrooms (it had only 2 large ones upstairs), a fabulous kitchen and a large rear deck to thoroughly enjoy rural beauty and solitude. As we explored the owners’ desires and a thorough evaluation of the house, it became clear that this was more than a remodel - it was a total re-working of the home from the bones on out. But how does one gut renovate a cherished family home and keep its memories intact? It requires a deep knowledge of all eras of home building, respect for the home’s heritage, and the ability to “listen” to the stories revealed.

A pleasant nook in the new master bedroom in the 2nd-story addition.

Mosby project planner/designer Adrienne Morgan reconfigured floor plans in the existing space, creating a spacious 2-story rear addition that gave the house an upstairs master suite and 2 full bathrooms, and a downstairs dining room walking out to a wrap-around deck. Another goal was to salvage as much original material as possible and re-use it. With these plans, project manager Rick Henson and his crew began carefully peeling away the layers of the building down to the original wood frame. This is where the home revealed long-hidden secrets that changed the best laid plans.

One wall of the hearth room perfectly conveys the old and new of the farmhouse. The new brick fireplace is surrounded by the original brick nogging found in the walls during the remodel.

Here’s the story of our carpenters finding brick nogging in the walls. This required a quick education on what it was, why it was there and what to do about it. Because the interior and exterior were being re-built, the brick should go in order to properly insulate, but it was such a great historical find - how can we just chuck these antiques? As you can see from the photos above, an ingenious design solution was born. Plans for the hearth room wall were changed so that the old brick nogging hugs the new brick fireplace. The starting point of the home - long buried under plaster and paneling - is now fully exposed, serving as an architectural scrapbook of how it began and how it remains.

The 4th generation of the farmhouse as a toddler.

As the house was stripped down to the original wooden skeleton, our carpenters found more chapters of the story. Here’s a report on some of the things they found, and our knowledge of early building practices confirmed that the home was easily 10 years older than thought. The farmhouse is at least 150 years old, placing it squarely in the American Civil War era. Each new find was a lesson in construction history - what works eternally and what didn’t - and at times it felt as if the carpenter forefathers were working right along side them.

Mosby made an exact replica of the original front entry door.

An awe-inspiring discovery was the original framing itself. Hand-sawn from original growth Southern pine, the framing was solid, pristine and - most amazing of all - still plumb! There was virtually no shifting or settling in the bones, so we had a perfect spine to support the new body. Rick - who has extensive new home construction experience - took great pleasure in working with it because it’s so rare and infused with so much personality in comparison to the lumber used today. The original carpenters had “overbuilt” this house to last forever, so the 1860s balloon frame met every modern building technique with a strong and hearty handshake.

The handrail, scrollwork brackets and stair treads are refurbished originals. The balisters needed to be taller for modern height so are new replicas.

With each new discovery, the renovation became a personal journey for us and the family, with all of us organically altering plans to fit the emerging personality of the home. In the dining room, for instance, pre-construction drawings showed 2 large windows overlooking the rear cornfield. As new framing on the addition began, a row of 3 old trees - about as old as the house itself - was the constant backdrop and a great place to eat lunch on scorching summer days. An idea popped up: what if the dining room had 3 windows that framed each of the trees? The idea resonated deeply with everyone, new drawings were made, and now the view from the dining room is spectacular.

A 2nd floor before and after shot shows how the new addition relates to the original floor plan.

The stairwell came to epitomize the spirit of the project: harmoniously bringing the old into the fold with the new. Great-grandfather himself had built the railing and newel post, so must remain, but people are taller today, and we couldn’t compromise safety and convenience. We refurbished the handrail and newel post (adding an extension to the bottom), and made new - and taller - replicas of the spindles.

A majority of the original wood flooring was kept and supplemented with new planks of the same species only as needed. We made sure to sand lightly on the original boards to preserve a century-and-a-half of character etched into the grooves. The original bead board paneling on the kitchen ceiling was removed, refinished, and moved to its new location as wainscoting in the new 1st floor bathroom. See the bathrooms here.

The basement is cleaned up, insulated and paved for its new role as command central for the electronic and communication systems of a 21st century farmhouse.

Everyone involved did an amazing job of creating a modern home deeply connected to its rural roots; wherever one is in the home, there’s no mistaking it for a new suburban home plopped into farm country. It has every top-of the line technological innovation running quietly under the surface, and that network command central is tucked into the basement. It was quite the adventure excavating, cleaning and updating the ancient cellar, but now it is the clean and precise brain of the home, a perfect example of how this sturdy building was able and willing to embrace another new century.

See the high-tech rural kitchen here.

A backup power generator is installed to keep the home humming if the power goes out.

And the 21st century requires electricity at all times. The farmhouse is monitored remotely from the owners’ primary residence and sits in a storm plain, so a backup power generator is a necessity.

The 1st floor bathroom and bedroom entrances update the transom glass that was originally above many doors in the house. Operable transom windows were the ingenious method of getting more air and light into rooms with 12 foot ceilings.

We loved working closely with the family on this unique project, as all of us were personally invested in creating the new proto-type for a modern historical farmhouse. Experiencing all the changing seasons on quiet, unspoiled land gave us a true understanding of rural heritage, and allowed us to profoundly contribute to the story of the generations of family who came before and will come in the future. This is why we are so proud to share this story with you.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 8:12 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.