A3 Architects and YORK Building & Remodeling joined forces with the homeowners of a special Dennis property to create a synthesis of past and present–the flow of traditional and modern Cape Cod emanates throughout this new construction. 

Returning to a memory is not always easy. In the case of homeowners Joel and Ann, coming back to Joel’s parents’ home in Dennis–a place he remembers fondly, full of happy childhood days spent among nature and his mother’s watercolor paintings–it was a meaningful choice to make when deciding what to do with the property. “It was always ‘my parents’ house.’” Joel explains. “And my kids grew up visiting their grandparents here, so I felt a great connection to the property. It was old when my parents bought it–and it was our cute, quirky house–but it did run the course of its life. We decided to give the next generation the legacy of this place.”

Alison Alessi, co-principal of A3 Architects in Dennis, met the homeowners in 2018, with Sandwich’s YORK Building & Remodeling signing on in the fall of 2019. “It’s on this charming little historic street,” Alessi says. “We wanted to keep the spirit of the house that had been there. In the initial design concepts and schemes, we stayed very true to what was built–we wanted to keep the memory of this little cottage.” 

Joel himself is an architect, and was able to work together with Alessi to devise the various special touches that should inhabit the home. “We were on the same page from the beginning,” Alessi emphasizes. As...