Sounds odd?

Imagine a 1920s clapboard bungalow merging with a 21st-century modern addition with an inverted gable. Then imagine the two roof planes of the addition rising into the sky -- like the wings of a butterfly.

It is dramatic. It is graceful. The approach is quite an unexpected way to add onto an old house. Yet the renovation and addition of the Witman Bungalow is all about defying expectations. It prompts several questions: Should an addition to a historic structure be about deference or difference? Should the new harmonize with the old by replicating its style and detail? And, can contrasting styles of new and old provide evidence of the way lifestyles have changed?

Deference or difference? In this design, the correct answer is both. The clever thing here is that the addition hasn't completely turned its back on the character of the old house's Craftsman-style construction. But, at the same time, it hasn't tried to copy it either.

The house, says Susan Cannon, "grows from something traditional to something untraditional."

In its original life, the house was a collection of small distinct rooms. While keeping the front of the house much the same, Cannon Architects opened up the back of the house beginning at the family room to allow in light and allow open space to flow into the dining room, kitchen and an airy master suite.

The little house appears unaltered -- its general shape maintained -- except for the demure addition of a new second-story dormer and a welcoming porch with a standing seam metal roof. These two features may go unnoticed from the street, for they are nothing out of the ordinary in a quaint Five Points neighborhood with many other rocking chair porches. But the clever, yet subtle, detailing of the alterations adds a modern touch that Cannon believes "echoes the proportion of traditional bungalow columns in an updated vocabulary."

Straddling old and new

Inside, the boundary between old and new is artfully disguised as the historically defined entry hall and sitting room in the front of the house gracefully flow into the modern living spaces in back. The state-of-the-art kitchen straddles the border between old and addition, defining the new heart of the home.

The design clearly reflects today's lifestyle, where people in different rooms can interact with one another while carrying on different activities. The approach also answers the latter questions above: Should the new harmonize with the old by replicating its style and detail? And can contrasting styles of new and old provide evidence of the way lifestyles have changed?

Susan Cannon affirmatively answers with this redesign that gives way to a transformation where the virtues of the old are heightened by the refreshing presence of the new.

The typical way to add on is to match the old, using the same details and colors, to make the new part look as if it has been there for a long time. But here, while the architects have used similar materials -- cypress siding on the new portion to match the cedar shake on the original house -- they also have placed old and new next to each other. (Craftsman detailing next to modern. The butterfly roof next to the original low roof. New, open spaces next to the older, distinct little rooms.) The virtues of the two together -- the sum of their parts -- is better.

The original 1920s Sears kit house (yes, you could order one from the catalog back then) could have easily met a different fate: It could have been torn down like so many other aging inside-the-Beltline homes. After all, the lot is tight, and starting from scratch, in some ways, would have been easier. Fortunately, the Cannons and the home's owner at the time of renovations accepted the challenge of the small lot and the idiosyncrasies of the old bungalow.

Boldly, the design goes

The redesign is so bold and so out-of-the-ordinary that it is hard to find fault in it. If there was any criticism of the house, it is that in taking advantage of every bit of space in the upstairs renovation of the old portion, the consequence is an upstairs bedroom that's rather cramped with a low ceiling.

Clearly, a house addition as daring as this may not be for everyone, but it certainly captivated the new owners, Bill and Betty Witman, who recently bought the property.

Betty Witman is pleased with the spaces in the old and new portions of the house. She says that she especially enjoys watching the "changing of the seasons" through the windows of the new family room.

The house displays a series of transformations as it moves from old to new. The bungalow's cozy, introverted rooms give way to the lofty ceilings and expressive spaces of the addition. The formality of the old house relaxes in the new. Craftsman goes Modern. And gables become butterflies.

Transformation can be a beautiful thing.

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