New Old Or Old New? -- With This Ravenna Craftsman, It's Hard To Tell

NORMAN LACEY, A BRICK AND stone mason, is best remembered for the substantial stonework of the Boyer mansion leading into the Washington Park Arboretum. In 1909, Lacey built his own house near Ravenna Park - some say with salvage from the other job. His rustic stone fireplace has a more than passing resemblance to the stone used in the Boyer project. While his skills at carpentry might be questioned, there was no doubt he knew his brick and stone.

With Lacey's death, the house passed to several families with changing taste. What woodwork there was disappeared. Original lighting fixtures and even the switches to turn them on and off also vanished. Architect Larry Johnson and his wife Lani, a consultant in environmental planning and management, purchased the house in 1980. Having just completed four years of renovation of a bungalow a half-block away, you'd think they would have learned their lesson.

Instead, they plunged head-on into an eight-year project that is still not finished. Construction of the second- and third-floor additions began in 1984. While the shell went up in that year, the interior finish work continued in spurts for three years while they lived downstairs. Because the Johnsons did the lion's share of the work themselves, this phase cost a relatively low $80,000.

After a year of relative calm, they began reconstruction of the main floor and the new kitchen and garage, which took another year and a half to complete and, because of the large amount of specialized carpentry and finish work, cost $215,000.

The Johnsons share a love of American and English Arts and Crafts period furniture and architecture. The house modifications and additions reflect their interest in interpreting the Arts and Crafts aesthetics, and its furnishing represents more than 20 years of collecting.

While the living and dining rooms do not appear to be changed at all from their 1909 appearance, they are largely reconstructed. Some woodwork existed, but according to Lani Johnson, much had been destroyed when later owners "modernized" after World War II. There had never been paneling in the living room, and the ceiling beams there had been removed. The new beams restore balance to the room, and the new paneled walls look as though they were there in Lacey's time.

The Johnsons were fortunate to locate the builder's grandson, who shared original interior photos of the house revealing the location of wall sconces, ceiling beams and moldings. They also showed that beneath the gray stucco fireplace was a hand-made stone fireplace built by Lacey.

In the dining room, what remained of the dark-stained fir wainscot had been painted yellow and gray. The Johnsons ran the old boards through a planer, re-stained them and whatever moldings were left, and used them as templates for making identical new pieces. They took some liberties with the trim molding, playing up brackets typical of Arts and Crafts detail, and built in new leaded-glass storage cabinets that feel right at home. Instead of salvaging badly damaged fir flooring here and in the living room, they chose to replicate the floor of their Ravenna bungalow: narrow plank oak with a walnut inlay. Al Thorslund, a skilled carpenter and friend, did the brunt of the time-intensive woodwork.

The circulation pattern in the old house posed problems. The unusual building lot shares two streets. In addition to the front entrance to the stair hall, a door at the back of the living room was frequently mistaken for the front entrance by people on the back street. "We got everyone selling everything on both sides of the house. It felt less like a home and more a train station," Lani Johnson said. The Johnsons removed the living-room door and installed leaded French doors in the dining room to access the side porch.

In the entrance stair hall, the Johnsons removed the solid railing and newel post and added a storage cabinet.

The kitchen is entirely new. Lani Johnson recalls the solid wall at the back of the house, with no access to the outside. The kitchen sink and counter were in this back area, with a door leading into the dining room. The sink and food preparation area was a separate room that housed the stove and refrigerator, but no counters. Melon crates were piled up for storage.

The Johnsons borrowed space from the living room, which had an awkward angled wall best eliminated anyway. The diagonal wall and the furnace chimney were removed. A bay window in the stair hall was extended the length of the kitchen to increase the space. Handmade "seedy" glass windows now let in light but curb the view of the neighboring house.

They opened up the back wall with a back door and turned the former sink area into a mud room. A servants' stair that led from the kitchen to the main stairway was eliminated, and the small circuitous stair to the basement was relocated. With these nip and tucks, they doubled the usable floor area. The once dark and inefficient kitchen is now utilitarian and bright with a combination of white wall tile and painted cabinetry with leaded glass, green-marble counters, cool green ceiling paint, and matching green floor tile with terra-cotta accents.

The new back door leads to a garage in the Arts and Crafts style. The shingle facade and brick and river-rock pillars tie it visually to the house, as do the arched wooden garage doors that, to the delight of its owners, open outward automatically with a specially rigged garage-door opener. The foundation of the garage was built on pilings to save the root system of a European winged elm, which is almost 90 feet high with a 10-foot circumference.

The couple expanded the second floor and added a third floor. They built out the exterior walls to create an informal, high-ceilinged family room with a staircase rising to a third-floor study. They flattened the front roof to accommodate a deck; the spade pattern railing of the deck is integrated with the new inside stairway. Matching arched windows in the new top floor tie the front and back of the house visually and add to the openness.

The main bathroom remodel was inspired by Lani Johnson's recollections of a hotel she stayed at in Belgium, and the couple made space for a "bathing room" with bath and stall shower. Art Nouveau glass windows filter colored light into the space. Two powder rooms adjoin it, one off the main hall and one from the master bedroom.

The Johnsons think of the third floor as a "useful garret." It functions as a family space, as spare rooms for house guests, and separate studies for the owners.

One of the nice things about the house is that trees planted early in the century have matured to provide a substantial frame of spruce, birch, elm, and plum. The Johnsons now look forward to the third phase, which will address the garden and basement. Work on a house never ends.

Lawrence Kreisman is author of six publications on regional architecture and historic preservation. He writes regularly for Pacific. Greg Gilbert is a Seattle Times staff photographer.

-------------------- ARTS AND CRAFTS EXPO --------------------

For West Coast Arts and Crafts enthusiasts, the First Pacific Coast Arts and Crafts Exposition is a must. Nearly 20 local, regional, and national dealers, decorators, manufacturers and artisans will participate in a show and sale Oct. 29-31 at historic Fauntleroy School in West Seattle.

They represent a spectrum of original and reproduction furniture, tile, wallpapers, textiles, lamps and accessories associated with this important style. Displays, demonstrations and lectures are planned by the organizers, Michael Ashford, Jeffrey Hill and Jodi Larusson.

Tickets for the weekend are $50 and include the Opening Night Gala and a three-day pass to all Expo events and lectures. Advance registration is required for the three-day passes. Show admission only on Saturday and Sunday is $8 at the door.

For more information and registration call 324-4961.