A family of four had purchased a gorgeous, white Edwardian-style building on a hilly street corner in the historic Pacific Heights area of San Francisco but the house needed a complete upgrade to meet the needs of the family that includes two busy professional adults and two young daughters.

The 1925 structure was indeed beautiful and the teams involved in re-creating it had to keep its heritage and character intact while ensuring that the modern luxury living standards of the family were met.

Three Californian firms handled the many aspects of the renovation and design. San Francisco-based Walker Warner Architects was in charge of the architecture, Oakland-based Redmond Aldrich Design handled the interior design and San Francisco-based Scott Lewis Landscape Architecture took care of the landscaping.
In the architecture of the project Walker Warner Architects had to ensure that the building met with the historical restrictions and that both the old and the new aspects of it were harmoniously coherent. The firm?s principal Brooks Walker has been quoted as saying that the team was inspired by the historic London townhomes where the existing features and the modernist interventions work seamlessly together yet are clearly distinct and discernable.

To bring the structure up to California?s earth-quake code, the house had to be pared down to its bare frame. The stucco and plaster exterior was removed and the foundation was steel-reinforced. The decorative wooden c...