Improving On History -- One Architect Moves In On Another Architect's Old Digs

ARCHITECT DAVID HOEDEMAKER HAS LIVED and worked in Seattle all his life, and thus is well-acquainted with many of the city's residential architectural treasures.

His renovated Capitol Hill home is a gem itself - a modest Dutch colonial from the turn of the century. Hoedemaker's acquaintance with this hillside house does not go back quite that far, but it would be fair to say that they are old friends; he first spent time there in the late 1950s, when he was fresh out of school. In those days the house was both home and office for another Seattle architect, Al Bumgardner.

Hoedemaker, now a senior design partner at the Seattle firm NBBJ, worked for Bumgardner then, and his drafting table was set up in what is now his living room. With views of downtown, Queen Anne and Lake Union, in its previous incarnation this living room must have been an inspiring spot to sit and draw.

Hoedemaker bought the place in the mid-1980s, lived there alone for a couple of years, and then, upon remarrying in the early 1990s, had it pointed out to him by his new bride that he, supreme arbiter of good taste in buildings, had been living in a wreck.

That may be a bit of an overstatement, since Al Bumgardner in his own Modernist-inspired way had done a lot of work on the house himself. Most significantly, he trimmed out the interior with clear grain fir, which was cheap in the 1950s (and today costs nearly as much as imported tropical hardwood, according to Hoedemaker). The fir trim, a warming contrast with the plain white sheetrock walls, instilled a classic Northwest Modern feeling in the house, lending it the subtly Asian quality that is integral to the Northwest style. Bumgardner also removed the ceiling in the upstairs master bedroom suite, revealing the ceiling trusses and creating an expansive, cathedral-like volume. The place had character, and Bumgardner had coaxed it out of the walls and revealed it wherever possible.

Nevertheless, major work was needed: The floor plan needed rethinking, portals needed moving, the lighting and the kitchen cried out for an update, and the floor itself had to be rebuilt, since 90-odd years of quakes, slides, and general settling had left the main level with about four feet of variation from room to room.

The Hoedemakers worked with the Seattle firm Spaces on the renovation. Spaces principals at the time included David's son John Hoedemaker and his partner Maryika Byskiniewicz. They improved on history without erasing it, spending $300,000 on the 1,500-square-foot home.

To improve circulation of the kitchen, the designers closed off one of the two doorways connecting the foyer and the kitchen and opened a new doorway from the kitchen to a dining room. They replaced the kitchen cabinets with new ones made out of clear grain fir - to match the house's existing trim - and patterned, clear glass panels. Coupled with kirkstone (a kind of English slate with a mottled, deep green color) countertops, the wood adds warmth and richness, while the glass in cabinets and windows both keeps the ambience light and inviting. A new, centrally-located, wood-clad work island offers storage and counter space as well as making an informal gathering place.

Throughout the house, the Spaces design team installed new quartz halogen lighting, and the clean white light from these miniature lamps has added sparkle to every room. The light fixtures are built in for the most part, but in the dining room the designers were limited to working below the plane of the ceiling, and so specified the lighting system called YaYa Ho. Designed by Ingo Maurer, YaYa Ho has wires that act as both conductors and hangers, transmitting electricity and suspending the delicate, dangling objects in place over the table.

To bring all the floors onto the same plane, Hoedemaker had the house jacked up and essentially rebuilt large sections of the underfloor support system - and then installed a new hardwood floor.

In the living room, a fireplace that sat halfway into the middle of the room was moved against a wall, effectively expanding a tight space. This living room is mostly about the views of Lake Union, and the furniture and finishes reflect this - the colors are quiet silvers and grays and beiges, and the throw rug and the coffee table have been designed with wave patterns in them, mimicking the waves on the lake below.

Keeping it all in the family, David Hoedemaker converted his father's old worktable into a liquor cabinet, and now it sits in the living room, a handsome, utilitarian object possessed of a sculptural dimension in this serene and subtle space.

A doorway to an adjacent study was closed off, and the study is now reached only by way of the dining room. Newly refinished cabinetry and millwork lend the study a quiet richness, enhanced with dramatic views of Lake Union via a large new window on the west side of the room.

On the main floor, the entry foyer is finished with a custom rug, a detailed antique woodstove, and a couple of custom-designed wall sconces. Tucked beneath the stairs to one side of the foyer, a single bed in a sleeping nook serves as the "guest bedroom" in this compact house.

In the master suite upstairs, the designers moved a closet to expand the views from the sleeping area, installed new carpeting and lights, and renovated the bathroom. They added a new window seating area to make the Lake Union views more accessible, finishing the area with the same kirkstone specified for the kitchen counters.

Hoedemaker moved the front door from its previous location on the south side of the house to the east side, where it accesses the "new" foyer. To enter, one now passes through a fenced, landscaped (by Bob Murase) yard. Here, a low-rise slatted wood deck with an unpainted trellis system is suggestive of a Japanese garden, and is linked by glass walls with the kitchen and the new foyer.

The natural wood, carefully detailed; the hints of Japan; and the expanses of glass are classic motifs of the Modern as it has historically been interpreted in the Northwest. Hoedemaker comes out of that tradition.

Justin Henderson is a Seattle freelance writer. Greg Gilbert is a Seattle Times photographer.