A team of professionals band together to restore, reconfigure and re-envision a beloved Cape cottage.

When the family who had been in possession of a charming cottage for generations, which happened to overlook pristine marshland in the Craigville section of Barnstable, decided it was time to sell their home, they didn’t want their beloved family retreat to go to just anyone. The storied home was in need of major restoration, so they needed to ensure that the next owners would see the same potential they did and take pride in being custodians of their precious home.

When another longtime family in the Craigville community got wind of the house going on the market, they jumped at the chance to take on the project. They quickly assembled a team of professionals who had a history of collaboration, and knew that together they could craft a shared vision as protectors of this historical property.

A sense of stewardship has been a value all past owners of this property have shared. Originally a hotel on the Craigville Village Green, the Palmer House Hotel was built just one year after the founding of Craigville by the New England Convention of Christian Churches which held its first camp meeting there in 1872. 

In 1906, the hotel’s dance pavilion was moved to this home’s current location, where it became the living room and dining room of the existing home. A second floor was constructed for bedrooms as well as a two-story addition, which provided a kitchen and additional bedrooms, thereby converting the pavilion into a summer home. When the current homeowners learned that the century-long family of owners were interested in finally giving up the home, the new owners expressed their interest and were thrilled to inherit a piece of Craigville history, despite the need for a makeover.  

The home, as with many antique abodes, had retained much of its character throughout its lifespan but wasn’t accommodating to life in the 21st century. Small rooms needed expanding to accommodate large gatherings and reorienting to take in natural light as well as the marshland views; weatherization using modern materials and techniques was crucial in turning this into a year-round home; out-of-code electrical components needed replacing to keep up with today’s appliances; the dirt floor in the basement prevented the space from being utilized as square footage for extra storage and occupancy.

In undertaking this work, Treff LaFleche, Principal at LDa Architecture & Interiors in Boston, and the homeowners set out to restore historical features that had been lost to time. First, by researching the history of other homes in the neighborhood, looking for details that could be reincorporated into the home. Some of the specific elements they found included patterned shingling, bracketed overhangs, and diamond pattern windows. “These little architectural decisions kept the additions in line with the integrity of the original structure. We feel that they celebrate the house, made it a grander version of itself without it feeling out of place or too ostentatious,” LaFleche says. “The homeowners were great stewards. They knew that through design they could solve the functional issues of the house but still be respectful of the history of the house and neighborhood.”

In order to breathe new life into the home it had to be nearly taken apart at the seams—an undertaking that required a huge amount of trust between the owners and their team. “As project manager I got to know the family really well. They have really open hearts and open arms to everyone in that community so for us the process was easy and honest,” says Jared Wallin, a project manager at LaBarge Homes in West Harwich which accomplished the daunting renovation. “There was no situation where they couldn’t voice their issues or hear our feedback.”

First LaBarge Homes, a frequent collaborator with LDa, set about lifting the home off of its weakening foundation so a new one could be laid, to not only strengthen the structure from the ground up, but also incorporate an addition. With the new foundation in place, what was once a dirt floor basement was turned into a multi-use space that included a rec room, guest bedroom, bathroom, and storage.

Next, the roof needed to be raised. In order to do so, LaFleche needed to make a convincing presentation to the town’s environmental and historical commissions for approval of the work that would improve the energy efficiency of the home while ensuring it wouldn’t lose any of its character. Insulation, rafters, and the vapor barrier were all replaced while the extra inches gave the owners more functional bedrooms on the second floor. Gambrel roofing, classic cedar shingles, and a modest flare to the trim struck the perfect chord in maintaining the home’s charm.

When interior designer, Kristin Pompeo, principal at Kristin Pompeo Interiors, joined the project, the house was down to the studs. This gave her the chance to work closely with Wallin and LaFleche on incorporating the finer details like colors, textures, materials, and fixtures into the overall design. She also joyfully took on the task of sorting through a storage container with the owners to find artifacts that had been left behind by the previous owners and identify the best way to reincorporate them into the home. 

As always, preservation was foremost on LaFleche’s mind. “Over the last 25 years and particularly in the last 10 there’s been lots of talk about sustainability,” he notes. “I always tell our clients the most sustainable contribution one can sometimes make is to preserve the embedded energy of the home. It’s so easy to knock something down and start over and there are appropriate times to do that but if you can preserve the embedded energy you are doing extremely good work as a steward.”

With the team and owners all pulling in the same direction, they were able to salvage key structural components of the home as well as some fun features that were crucial in acknowledging the history. 

In the entryway, kitchen, living and dining rooms, the original structural beams were removed and saved for re-installation, and the original flooring, once used as a dance floor, was removed and saved for various accent wall coverings, including the lower-level wet bar and between the closets in the front entry. The original front door and hardware were stripped and used for the laundry room door, and one of the original interior doors was used as a sliding barn door in the guest bathroom. A unique wrought iron doorbell original to the home was restored and placed back in its spot next to the front door under the covered porch. Historic and hard-to-come-by West Barnstable Brick Company bricks found in the demolition of the existing chimneys, were strategically integrated into the paving pattern in the home’s front walkway.

At the end of the day, not every part of the existing home could be preserved or restored. The original structure of the detached garage was simply too far gone. It had been built into a hill and years of groundwater running down that hill had created moisture issues which compromised its integrity and left this part of the home unsalvagable. 

Far from being a tragedy, this gave LaFleche the chance to bring this part of the house into the current era. “Garages are very much a 20th century innovation,” he says. “If you’re going to allow people to embrace living in 2024 rather than 1974 or 1824 you have to have some flexibility to allow for these structures to evolve. The owners gave us a chance to rethink the garage in such a way that what we put in its place is a worthy contributor to the new narrative of this house.”

In the end not only was a new garage built to accommodate modern vehicles, a second floor was outfitted with an office to accommodate modern working. The landscape architectural team at Crowley Cottrell integrated the upper and lower parts of the property and added the walkway which connected the office to the main house and in the process improved the views to the water and created access to the dock.

Back in the main structure, the team opened up the interior to create more space for people to gather and to take advantage of the home’s ideal position atop a hill overlooking marshland. 

When this home was first built, kitchens were primarily a room of utility. To suit the new owner’s vision of this home as a gathering place for all seasons the kitchen was moved to the north side of the house to make it more connected to the living room. This new orientation opened a view from the kitchen across the living room, across the back deck and yard, and out to the water.

One of the most striking additions made possible by modern living is the addition of a number of windows. One of the team’s approaches towards energy conservation was to ensure that plenty of efficient insulation was added throughout and because of this, more windows could be added to take in the views and flood the living spaces with natural light. The multi-level staircase that was built in the middle of the home was designed to capture the new light coming in from the south and enlivens the main and upper floors while also dropping light into the lower level. 

With all the added views now possible from inside the home, it was crucial that the land itself received loving restoration. Landscape architect, Michelle Crowley, Principal at Crowley Cottrell in Boston, assembled a team to get the job done. “I am in my happy place when a project site is as complex as this property,” she says. “I focused on the grading, earthwork, walls, and steps to create spaces around the house” which added much needed differentiation to the plot. Schumacher Companies of West Bridgewater and Dennisport aided in the complex construction work needed to prevent erosion. 

She credits Brooke Warfel, an associate at Crowley Cottrell, for an amazing planting design featuring all native plants which provide interest in all four seasons, while limiting the use of manicured lawn to a very small area at the top of the hill off of the westside porch. The team at Wilkinson Ecological Design in Orleans made major contributions, including removing invasive species like multiflora rose, burning bush, and phragmites, all by hand to ensure that it is gone for good. 

Todd LaBarge, principal of LaBarge Homes says of this memorable project, “The greatest achievement shared by everyone on the entire team was successfully blending the home’s history with the client’s vision while honoring the overall design intent.”

The community of devoted professionals who joined the owners in this labor of love are more than builders, designers, and landscapers. They are stewards of the community. In restoring this home to its original glory, they preserved a piece of history that will stand for the next 100 years to the benefit of everyone who cherishes Craigville Village.  

Matt Nilsson is a freelance writer for Cape Cod Life Publications.