Talking Walls

107 Vaughan Street’s transformation was spearheaded by architects Tom Daniels and Mike Richman of Custom Concepts.

Exceptional Exception The West End’s

Like sherbet between courses, 107 Vaughan Street stands out among the stately Colonial Revival homes that surround it.

Sometimes a little contrast is called for. Think of sea salt sprinkled on sweet caramel, or the one white iris among the many purple ones in an Gogh’s Les Iris. A contrast of flavors, or of colors, sharpens our perceptions of the elements of a composition. On aughan Street in Portland’s West End, a similar phenomenon is at work A contemporary house, newly refurbished and re- invented, stands out from its nineteenth-century brick and clapboard neighbors and the effect deepens our understanding of the West End.

Realtor John Hatcher describes the original owners of the house, Drs. Robert and Mary Morse, as “very green before green was green ” when they bought land in the West End they chose to build an ecological Acorn house rather than a copy of the John Calvin Stevens houses around it. Acorn Structures, founded in 19 , was one of the first companies to create what we know as “prefab” houses today. Whole sides of buildings were put together at their factory in Acton, Massachusetts, enabling a builder to put up an Acorn house in as little as a week. What appealed to the Morses, building their home so soon after the energy crisis of the 19 0s, was its efficiency. John Hatcher recalls, “They had a wood stove on the lower living level and were able to heat the whole house with wood with only a bit of backup from a natural-gas furnace.” The large win-

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dows that ran the length of the house were also designed to heat the house with passive solar energy. The interior was open plan, with plenty of une pected nooks and crannies there was even a darkroom for developing Mary Morse’s photographs included as part of the master suite.

The house suited the Morses perfectly “This was their dream home they loved the West End, loved walking to the hospital,” says Hatcher. But after Mary Morse died a do en years ago, the house’s beauty faded. The wood siding dulled. Already set back from the street unlike its neighbors trees and bushes grew up around it, making it almost invisible from aughan Street.

Enter Stephen Harvey. A builder for more than 20 years and a longtime resident of Raymond, he wanted to move to Portland to be closer to family members. He was also looking for a new pro ect, a challenge and he found it. When he first saw the house, he says, tactfully, “I knew it needed uite a bit of updating.” And while he appreciated its modern look, he knew some of his neighbors did not. “I heard from a couple of neighbors that they wished the house had never been built,” he says. So his goal was to walk a fine line “I tried to update the house stylishly, not to mimic the brick mansions but to do some things that would be palatable to the neighbors.”

The house has been transformed. Hatcher says admiringly, “This was a complete re-

do from stem to stern, and the workmanship and style are impeccable.”

As an e perienced builder, Harvey didn’t balk at taking the house down to the studs to achieve his vision “I didn’t find it daunting at all.” Like the Morses, Harvey is concerned about energy efficiency, so he took out all the interior walls in order to super-insulate the house. The e terior has been recovered in gleaming cedar, with copper flashing on the roof. He worked hard to make sure that the copper beech tree in the front yard which is one of the oldest in the state, according to Hatcher remained unharmed during construction. Now that the unruly bushes in front of the house have been tamed, the beech tree stands revealed, with the house peeking out from behind it.

The result is a parado The house draws attention to itself in its new incarnation, yet also blends more into the neighborhood. The contrast is subtle rather than arring. Now, instead of coming by to tell him they wished the house had never been built, Harvey says his neighbors have been generally positive about the changes he has made. “For months I’ve had people stopping by, happy I did fi it up,” he says. ■

Mason: Brian Bogdan B&B Masonry (Casco); general contractor: Black Birch Construction (Portland–all carpentry, roofing, finish work); architect: Custom Concepts, Tom Daniels/Mike Richman (Scarborough); plumbing: Bob Miles & Son (Freeport); electrician: Morellco Electric (Casco); painting: Swift & Swift Painting (South Portland); hardwood flooring: Atlantic Hardwoods (Portland); lighting: House Of Lights (Scarborough); tile/carpet: Paul G. White Interior Solutions; HVAC: HVAC Services (Westbrook); steel/metalwork: Pettingill-Ross Co. (Gorham); garage door: P.D.Q. Door, Inc. (Bath); windows/doors/lumber: Hancock Lumber; security: Cunningham Security (Yarmouth); insulation: Warm Tech Solutions (Yarmouth);

glass: Glass and Mirror Services (Westbrook). >> Visit On-

line Extras at portlandmonthly.com for more images.

Modern plumbing and heating updates more spartan appliances dating to the Acorn days of the 1970s.

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