Makeover Magicians

Whenever architect Patrick Ahearn puts his name on a project, he says he wants the results to be so natural and seamless, you’d never know he was there. And in the case of a house he renovated last year in Martha’s Vineyard, you’d think he barely was. The homeowners charged Ahearn with the considerable task of completing the job between late September 2005 and June 2006. “It’s basically a full-time home for them six months out of the year,” Ahearn explains. “They considered tearing it down [and rebuilding], but they’re very active and involved in the community and didn’t want to be out for two summers.

But even as the owners and Ahearn agreed that renovation was the way to go, the architect didn’t quite know what he was in for. The couple was looking to make some significant additions, including a new family room, a kitchen area, his-and-her master bathrooms that meet at the shower and a new basement that included a media room.

But not long after they began demolition, Ahearn and builder/contractor Peter Rosbeck discovered that every wall in the structure, originally built in the 1950s, was made of cinderblock that had been plastered over. Each wall would have to be carefully and systematically rebuilt, so that the house didn’t fall down and the project could still be considered a renovation.

And they had to do it all in the dead of New England winter.

ARCHITECTURE
Patrick Ahearn, Ahearn Schopfer Associates
CONSTRUCTION
Peter Rosbeck