Pyramid Scheme

2020

A careful rehabilitation of a duplex in the Germantown Historic District that had fallen into a rough state. The guiding principle was to do the smallest intervention and conserve as much of the existing building material as possible, including the battered aluminum siding, which is now part of its history. Preservationist Christopher Evers has termed this approach “dynamic preservation” in his now classic book on the subject, The Old-House Doctor (1986). According to him, “the proponents of dynamic preservation encourage the retention of the best features an old-house has acquired with age, but permit the intelligent removal of discordant architectural notes and condone the construction of harmonious additions.”

According to Harris County deed records, this folk Victorian cottage was built as a single-family house for Ida and B. J. Witt in 1914 in the unplattted Grota Home addition. From the city directories we learned it was converted to a duplex in 1958 by later owners and has remained so ever since. Duplexes are sadly increasingly rare in Houston. They are good for the city because they allow for a gentle increase in density without the mass of stacked townhouses that are so disruptive to the few remaining, intact nineteenth-century inner-city neighborhoods in Houston, such as the Germantown historic district.

The Witt House has an unusual, almost nine-square plan, which we decided to keep as intact as much as possible. Changes include replanning the deteriorated kitchens and bathrooms, which were awkwardly stuffed in narrow, enclosed porch spaces. We used prefab cabinets to cut costs and inexpensive tiles to add color and contrast. The only exterior changes included the addition of new French doors to the rear openings to allow more natural light, a new rear deck, and a dormer in the attic loft space with operable windows for fire egress. All the other doors and windows remained in their original locations. Finally, the installation of central air conditioning allowed for the removal of window-mounted air conditioners, which had leaked over the years and rotted the windowsills.