庄园·建筑工作室乌特罗

Firm： Architectural studio UTRO

Type： Residential › Multi Unit Housing Commercial › Showroom

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2020

BUDGET： $10K - 50K

The building was commissioned in 1908 in the spirit of Romantic Art Nouveau with Gothic echoes: the two raised pediments, which gave the building its charming name "The House with Ears".

The UTRO architects had to carry out a complex adaptation of the four-storey apartment building into a residence with 7 apartments.

At the time the work began, the percentage of damage to the house was 73%. The area around the house had risen by an average of 40 cm. Therefore, the proportions of the house changed. We removed the layers, freed the old trees. This influenced the decision of the general plan – the retaining wall and benches appeared on the territory.

We wanted to keep all the original details that survived until today. We left the façade brick, restoring the damaged parts. The front façade was covered with unremovable plaster, so the dismantled fragments were replaced with brickwork of a similar period.

For the interior we chose the Art Deco style of the same period. In the common areas we preserved the original fine glazing and the historical layout of the entryway stained glass windows.

An absolutely new element is the passenger elevator. The design of the applied elements of the elevator are strips of brass, embedded in MDF with satin mirrors between them.

All elements of the interior of the entrance hall are custom-made according to individual drawings: letterboxes, handles, doors and baseboard trim with steel profiles. The ceiling of the entrance hall is also a new element. The diamond pattern appeared as a solution to decorate the attic stairs.

Terrazzo floors and brass railings also appeared. The historical wooden railings were preserved: cleaned from five coats of paint, the missing elements were dug up and fixed on a metal plate.