1. x T H E O F F I C E O F
A L E X I A N. C. L E V I T E, L L C
A R C H I T E C T S
MENDELSON RESIDENCE, Chevy Chase, MD
PROGRAM: The clients for this renovation had several
major concerns:
• Young children and a growing family required 4 to 5
bedrooms
• A 7'-8" existing ceiling height, and floor plan divided
into many spaces, made the house dark. More light
would need to be brought into the house and low
ceilings disguised.
• In addition to the normal permitting requirements, the
separate neighborhood design review and permitting
process would require the project design to fit with the
look of the neighborhood.
• The Clients wanted a large front porch where children
could play and the family could feel connected to the
neighborhood, and asked to have the more informal
spaces, including kitchen and family, located at the
front of the house with easy front porch access.
SOLUTION: The existing house had very little light at its
core. A central entry hall was reduced at its midpoint to a
dark narrow warren with many doors leading into separate
rooms. The new design gutted areas of the existing first
floor and reconfigured the floor plan with the following
changes:
• A formal living room that allowed views through the
house to the rear garden on axis from the front entry
hall, and replaced a master bedroom suite. The open
views, without bulkheads or doors, created a spacious
vista alleviating the constricted feeling the house once
had.
• Removal of bulkheads from openings off the entry hall
created full height openings and a vertical effect, to
combat the long horizontal appearance of the existing,
low ceilinged, entry hall.
• A two-story tower was created at the heart of the house.
The stair tower allows natural light to filter down into
the house, brightening its core and entry hall, and
casting daylight into nearly every room on the first and
second floors. It provides the added effect of making
the ceilings appear taller.
• A larger kitchen was created where there had been a
kitchen and mudroom.
