Upper Arlington Historic District, Ohio
Historic Upper Arlington Addition
A two-story home addition in Upper Arlington's historic district carries the house's curved, French-inspired roof into a larger rear gable seen from the street.
The project
This two-story addition expands a house in the Upper Arlington Historic District for multigenerational living. The design carries the curved roofline of the French-inspired facade into a larger rear gable, so the new rear reads as part of the original house.
Carrying the curved roof into a rear gable
The family needed more space on both floors, laundry out of the basement, and a better connection between the detached garage, the patio, and the interior. Those needs were straightforward. The harder part was making that much new space feel intentional on a house whose character comes largely from one detail: the curved, French-inspired roof on its front facade. The challenge was adding a lot of house at the back without the rear feeling unrelated to the front.
Rather than reproduce the old elevation, the design repeats that curve at a larger scale in the rear gable. The addition relates to the original house through its roof, not by copying it. Because part of the addition is visible from the driveway and the street, the roofline also lets the expanded house read as one composition from more than one side.
The curved roof is how the addition belongs.
The everyday door is at the back, and it has a presence.
Approval in the Upper Arlington Historic District
The city's residential design standards apply to additions in the district. They direct roofs to relate to prominent neighborhood roof styles and call for additions to blend compatible elements with the existing house. Roof form, rear massing, and the relationship between old and new exterior materials were central to the review. The addition was approved on its first review.
Compatibility did not mean copying every material. Where new construction called for a contemporary product, the design chose one with related qualities. Wood-grain fiber-cement siding picks up the texture of the existing exterior while giving the addition the durability of new construction.
A covered rear entry for everyday arrival
Visitors still use the formal front door. The family usually arrives from the detached garage and rear patio, and that route now has its own entrance. A covered rear entry opens directly into the expanded kitchen and dining area, with a compact mudroom beside it. Instead of slipping in through the back of the house, the family arrives through a space designed around its daily routine.
A first-floor suite for multigenerational living
The new first-floor suite hosts extended family for visits and can support longer-term multigenerational living. On the ground floor, it removes dependence on stairs and gives guests a more private part of the house. Upstairs, the addition adds a bedroom and brings laundry up out of the basement. Two constraints of the old plan are solved without reorganizing the whole house.
Site-framing the curved gable
The curved gable could not be assembled from standard prefabricated trusses. It is stick-framed on site, piece by piece. That adds complexity and cost to construction, and it was a deliberate trade: more demanding framing in exchange for an addition that belongs to the original architecture instead of simply adding square footage.