Greetings - this is my first post on this forum, that I am very happy to have discovered! I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and last fall I purchased a home that was built in an Arts & Crafts / Craftsman "tribute" style, in one of Calgary's nicest neighbourhoods. I wish I could have bought a real A&C home, but there really aren't many up here that have been well kept and can comfortably house my family of 3 kids and 1 big dog! I respect and treasure the heritage that these wonderful homes are.

Anyway, since my purchase, I have been reading up on the Arts & Crafts movement generally (and have found several good resources on the net), and can see that the builder of my home (5 years old) put in an abundance of touches (from style of wainscoting, fireplace, wood finish, hardware, pillars, archways, etc.)

Anyway, the one area where I feel they could have done a little more work to make it look/feel more authentic is on the front facade. Although they brought in several good A&C elements, it looks like they cut a few corners prior to completion. I have started talking with a facade redesign expert here in Calgary, but would find to get some views from the larger A&C community.

I have attached a picture of the current facade. I am planning on having the (i) corbels replaced generally with one that fits the scale of the house; (ii) having "arch supports" put up under the two main gables; (iii) having the columns replaced with wood columns in a more traditional A&C style; and (iv) probably having the soffits under the main porch replaced with wooden ones.

Does anyone have any more advice they could offer? If you know of an architect who could give me a paid consult on this, I'd also appreciate the referral.

Just to make sure I don't offend any true A&C devotees out there, I just want to make sure that my house pays the proper tribute to the movement, I am certainly not trying to pass my house off as A&C.

Thanks in advance, friends!

Welcome spender,


There are a few things that come to mind when I look at your home.

1. As you say, the knee braces or corbels really need to be on the correct scale with the house.

2. The french doors on the front could be changed out for a craftsman style door with nice sidelights that have beveled or stained glass.

3. The wrought iron on the porch could be changed to wood.

I've included a couple of my favorite porches from my neighborhood, and you can see a collection of images for historic inspiration here: Historic Neighborhoods in the Northwest.

Why not just love the house you're in? Like you say, it's a modern "tribute" to the movement. The A&C Movement was about simplicity and authenticity. The simplest thing to do would be to leave the house essentially intact as it is.

Replacing the corbels and adding knee brackets isn't going to make it look more A&C. The depth of the eaves don't support that. The stacked stone piers and iron railing are modern interpretations and they ain't broke, so why spend the money?

I agree with Lauren that adding a handsome, high-end Craftsman-style front door would contribute immeasurably to its curb appeal ... but I would make sure it was very simple.

I'd concentrate my resources on hiring a first rate landscaper to create a beautiful Japanese-style garden with native plants and use the rest of my budget inside.

I'm guessing you have neighbors with similar homes and it might look incongruous to change the façade into something it isn't.

If you really have your heart set on an true vintage style A&C home, get a vintage plan and have it custom-built from the ground up.

Best,
Rikki

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate them!

Firstly, the front door is not the French Doors - although maybe I should have them painted to blend in better. The actual front door is to the right, and is hammered copper. Actually, very A&C in look and feel, they got that right.

I agree with your comment, Rikki - my inclination would have been not to touch it too much, I agree that every house has its own unique soul (hope that doesn't sound too corny!). However, and I'm not sure you can see it from the pictures, but when the original builders put up the facade, they made a fairly significant error. I've since obtained the plans from City Hall, and it has confirmed the error.

The key error is as follows: if you look at the "pop out" over the garage (framed out gable), it was also supposed to be present in the main gables on the second floor of the house. However, it is badly noted on the plans (shows up on side view, but not front view), and it's pretty clear that the builders just got it wrong. This bothered me from the beginning, as it makes the house look a little "flat" from the front. The second error/issue (which I think was more of a design error) is the size of the corbels - they're just way too small. Even though most corbels were basically ornamental after a certain time, they still believably looked like they could hold the load on them. Not so with the ones on my house - my parents even commented on this (and they're not A&C specialists!)

So, I think replacing the corbels is a "no brainer". I also think that painting the french doors (actually leading into the dining room) to make them disappear would also be a good thing. However, I still need to find a way to bring the dimensionality back into the two main gables; I thought of a "gable support" as the easiest way, but I could also possibly have them just fix it according to the plans, i.e. bump it out.

That being said, I agree that it is better generally to do less than more, because the danger of overdoing it is much worse than the danger of underdoing it.

Oh, and BTW, in my climate you can't really do much of a garden - I have a growing season of about 4 months total. Maybe I should move to San Francisco.

I've attached some pictures (from http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/ both out of copyright) that gave me some inspiration as to the type of arch support I'd like. I like how the first one below is supported on "dual corbels" and would work well (I think) on my gables. I also think the form of arch support there is the simplest I could do.

The second one has what I would call the most common A&C "Gothic" style support that you see everywhere.

The third picture has a more ornate arch support that I kind of liked too.

Here's the picture with the "most common" arch support.

This is a "fancy" pattern of arch support.

I see what you mean about the discrepancy between the gable treatment on the garage versus the two facing gables. Certainly correcting the two gables for the added dimensionality and adding beefier corbels makes sense. Any chance you can get the builder to correct it, since it's obviously soooo wrong?

I'd bump the gables out and use the corbels as the repetitive design element to tie it together. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity.

Too bad about the garden though. A four-month growing season ... that would just kill me.

R.

Thanks for your comments, Rikki and Antique Home - much appreciated!

Thanks especially for your comments, Rikki. The people who I am hiring to do my facade work are pretty much the best guys in town, real "craftsmen" themselves. However, I agree with the idea of simplicity, and taking it one step at a time. I'll post pictures as it progresses.

It is notable that even in Paul Duchscherer's book, "The Bungalow: America's Arts & Crafts Home", there is a whole chapter on new homes, so in my own way, I am a part of the movement.

Also, if anyone else has any comments, please don't be shy!