Inside Clarendon’s Thin House
10 02 2009Remember that wafer thin house we showed you being built in Clarendon? Well the builder has finished up and we finally managed to get a tour and check out how a house little more than 12 feet wide looks from the inside. Surprisingly, it’s not as cramped feeling as you would expect (of course there was no furniture inside yet).
The house sits on a very narrow piece of property which the architect only played up by making the house so tall and placing long windows throughout. But it’s those windows that make the house feel open once inside. Keep reading for the complete tour, including a very interesting and “open” bathroom…
The entrance is really a choice of three sets of doors along the left side of the house, which we imagine would be a little confusing for guests.
The kitchen is really top notch with a Wolf cooking range, but we wonder where a dinning table would go without blocking off most of the kitchen?
We have to say that once we were in the house, the hallways and stairs didn’t feel like they were any smaller to accommodate the building. As we said the huge windows really filled the house with light when we were walking around. The real question though is how it would look on a cloudy day or once the windows have coverings. Which brings us to the bathroom. Clearly unless you want the entire neighborhood watching you take a bath every day, window shades are going to be a must have for this house. Great bathtub though right?
What do you think? The builder is definitely banking on some cache with a price well over $1 million, but it is certainly a livable house and could accommodate people who want more than a sparse show room for modern design. [Photos: DCMetrocentric]
It looks like the bathroom is on the top floor, much taller than any of the surrounding houses, they could probably get away with just covering the bottom half of the windows, only planes would be able to catch a glimpse.
12+ feet wide? I think there are many row houses in DC that are about this width. This one just stands out more since it’s detached. Very beautiful though!
Are the kitchen cabinets shallow depth cabinets? I’d like to think this would appropriate, but they look standard depth, judging by the Wolf range.
Tom A. – There may be some row houses in DC that are 12 feet wide, but I don’t think they are common. Currently, to build an attached row house in an area zoned R-4 (residential zone covering rowhouse rich areas such as Shaw, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Bloomingdale, H Street, and Capitol Hill) as a matter of right, the lot must be at least 18 feet wide. That’s a bit wider than the width of a typical older rowhouse – my quick internet research indicates that a width of 15 feet is pretty standard for turn of the century DC row houses. 12 feet is getting pretty narrow. I do agree that the width of this house stands out more because it is free-standing. The quality certainly looks very high as well. But I think putting the furniture in will be a real challenge. Where is the couch going to go if all the walls are broken up by floor to ceiling windows?
my home in georgetown was 12 feet wide (as were my neighbors on cecil place). my new home near NoMa and all the others on my street are 12 feet wide.
both my previous and current places were built in 1900.
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Mose – They are more common than you think. My townhouse in Hill East (near Stadium-Armory Metro) and all of the houses on our block except for the end house are 12 feet wide. There are many similar blocks in my neighborhood, as well.
approx. 706 Barton Street North, Arlington. Right at the intersection of Barton and Pershing by Ft. Myer. You can see the foundation being laid via google maps.
This house is on the wrong side of the tracks away from ooo-la-la Clarendon and Lyon Park. It’s mixed in with a lot of working class housing stock. It’s right on the 4B bus line so +/- quick bus to Rosslyn but loud rumbling buses stopping at your front door 18 hours a day.
$1M is a pipe dream. 10 blocks west, maybe, but not at that location.
Folks, I am the architect and owner. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. The house is at 711 N. Barton Street, in Arlington; just off Pershing Drive. It is 12′ wide at the exterior. Yes, the cabinets are normal depth. It has 4 bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths, 4 finished levels, and is 2880 sq. ft. bobbraddock@gmail.com
Bob, that’s crazy. Tell Erika that Candi says hi. I like the design, I just don’t think it’s going to get a million. I’ll root for you though. I’d love to hear how the lot came in to being and if Arlington doubted anything could be built there.
Candi, the lot was split off from the lot next door. I designed the house next door, as well. A real estate assessor at Arlington County told me there are three other properties equally as skinny (30′). No variance was involved. The house meets all the setbacks, which is why it’s 12′ wide. If you and Brendan want a tour, call me.
Well, it looks like there is strong anecdotal evidence that there are quite a few 12′ wide rowhouses in DC.
Bob,
At 2800sf, your house is well worth the price. A lot of people have very immature view of this part of noarl. The 4 of us moved to the Courthouse area and into an 1100sf condo 3 years ago. We paid well over 600k for our place, I hated the place for 2 of the 3 years i’ve lived here because of buyers regrets. I felt I got screwed, maybe I did. Now I can’t see myself living anywhere else, the quality of life here is awesome.
I have many friends who once lived here but moved out to fairfax because they wanted more for their money. They did, but now many of them wish they could move back into town. They’re here every weekend for entertainment. They’d take a much smaller place closer in if they could sell their current one. The moral of the story is this, at 2800 sf with 3 bedrooms, the house can accommodate a large family, and in town, that is priceless.
PS, check out The Atlantic mag. March 2008 – title: The next slums
What an enjoyment it is to read everyone’s comments about this thoroughly innovative and delightful design in my neighborhood. As an aside, I think what most people fail to remember is that the house’s design and construction was within Arlington County code. So, notwithstanding the opinions being expressed, if you really are that disgusted with it, then my suggestion would be that you take it up with the Arlington County Government to have the building codes changed.
As I recall, Builders are in business to build homes, make money, express their ideas and sell homes. Sometimes they guess right and sometimes not. IMHO, I will be surprised if he garners his asking price, or anything north of the million dollar mark, regardless of the economy. And I for one like the home even though I would find it difficult to live in, especially with a family. As a single man, it would be fun.
There’s no doubt from what I’ve read, that Mr. Simpson built this home in spite of his variance request being denied. So if in fact this is what he was left with after being denied a variance, who do we have to blame but ourselves? We should always know the end game before we make our stand. In the end, he had nothing but the existing code framework that was left him by the County, didn’t he? As a business man myself, I applaud his moxxy. And regardless of what some may think, I believe the house’s design will ultimately fit in with the new construction that will be undertaken at the now defunct shopping center.
Change happens; it always will as long as we live. We can choose to embrace it, attempt to modify it or go elsewhere. It will always be difficult to please everyone. So thank God we have choices, even though they may not always be easy ones. It was probably not any easier for Simpson to make that choice than it would be for the disgruntled neighbor to move, should they decide to do that.
As a closing comment, can you imagine our still living in catalog ordered Sears homes? conastoga wagons? tents? rustic log homes? tee-pees? houses with out-houses?
Just a thought….hmmmm.
First, it’s a major stretch to say “most” houses in DC are 12 feet wide on the exterior. Most houses in DC are actually wider than that, and current DC zoning requires a minimum width of 18 ft. in an R-4 for new construction (most of what people consider residential area in DC is R-4 zone districts).
Second, to me, the builder’s attitude is everything that’s wrong with the approach to developers’ thinking. One article about this house says that the builder wanted to disprove that people wanted small houses by building this house, which he considers to be a small house. At 2,880 sq. ft. and 3-1/2 baths (!!!), that’s a pretty huge house by The Not So Big House standards. This house that maximizes what is permissible under the applicable zoning regs., which likewise shows a that the goal here was to maximize, not to design well. That’s not a comment on the architecture. I’ve seen better and worse. It’s just what the final building reflects about the thinking of the person that made the conscious decision to build this house (and carry the cost of financing that expense until it is sold).
Also, the idea of the Not So Big House is a focus on design suited to the occupant (instead of size). This house, having been built on spec, has not been built to suit to any particular person other than the builder’s idea to maximize what he can build on a lot. The photos of the kitchen shown above show a pretty unremarkable in terms of layout, design or any kind of innovation. The best that can be said about the kitchen is it has a 36″ Wolf range. I like Wolf ranges, but that can’t make up for a fairly blah kitchen. There are plenty of big windows, but they look right onto the neighboring property a few feet away.
About the only thing you can applaud is an exterior style that is atypical for this area. Even so, it’s fairly unremarkable architecturally.
It’s silly to blame the zoning code for producing a house like this, because it existed before the house was built, and nobody forced the developer to do it. It was a voluntary, conscious decision. I’m just glad I don’t live in that house’s shadow.
So, the builder has successfully shown that he can build a house that maxes out what he is permitted to build within the constraints of the zoning code. At best, he has accomplished what every run-of-the-mill developer does every day.
The builder has also successfully shown that he would rather build a house to the max rather than one that suits the site well. That’s McMansion thinking forced into a north Arlington-sized box. Also unremarkable, except in its obstinacy.
The builder has also shown that he is a bit of a gambler, who probably overpaid for this property and, having lost his gamble, now hopes to make it back by selling a 2,880 square foot house.
Fortunately for the developer, sooner or later, someone will come along who wants to live in north Arlington badly enough that they just might buy this house despite the poor decsionmaking that produced it.
Bob,
I am an architect as well, and you have dealt a nice little blow to the phony colonies out there. I live in Old ‘fart’ town alexandria…my house was built in the 1950′s with a 1980′s modern addition, and I STILL have to go through the BAR for approval. Watch for me in the near future for the one who tells the historic board where to stick their idea of single paned fully divided light windows when I want to change them out to performance windows.
Finally glad there is someone else out there who feels not everyone needs to live in a brand new, butter freakin churning disney/colonial williamsburg, home.
Next will be Alexandria residents required people to purchase horses and buggies and leave their cars on the outside of city limits.
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This house only looks odd in when compared to the surrounding ‘suburban’ homes. If this were in the city next to traditional brownstones it would be a superstar. It’s beautiful and I wish I’d known about it before I bought my 12-foot wide, old fixer upper on Capitol Hill. It’s awesome.
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Rumor has it the builder did it to piss off the neighbors next door who fought him on the first design proposal.