Architectural Resource, LLC

We found the Architectural Resource team about ten years after we’d purchased our historic home. At that point, we’d had small projects done—a room replastered for a nursery, a crumbling foundation shored up, doors and windows refurbished—but it was time to tackle our entire (sagging, leaking, beloved) home as a single project. We wanted an architect who was willing to work with both the historic aspects we wanted to maintain and the modern, energy- efficient and comfort-forward changes we wanted to make.
Enter Architectural Resource.
Michael and his team embraced our project with enthusiasm. They visited our house; saw how we lived in it, saw how the house fit on our property and into our neighborhood. They talked with us about what we envisioned, from small details (more electrical outlets) to pie-in-the-sky dreams (rooftop patio), and then about our budget, a projected timeline, and what was possible.
They assigned us “design homework” to help us be as specific as possible about what we wanted, and the images and the notes we collected for them proved to be such an effective way to communicate with the design team that I carried them with me throughout the project to communicate with our contractor, suppliers, and even sales people in furniture showrooms.
The AR team are excellent communicators. Throughout the project they kept in close contact not only about the home design but about time line and budget. They helped us find contractors who were excited to take on our project and looped them in on the communication, too, making sure we had accurate estimates of building times and material costs. And then once the project began, the AR team checked in regularly and were ready to respond quickly to last-minute design changes.
When the renovation was done, we had a home that was more beautiful, more spacious and more inviting. It is warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, with electrical outlets everywhere we could want them and two balconies, and yet when people see it from the outside it looks as if it has always looked this way, and when family and friends and former owners come to see the renovation they can never quite tell which parts of the home are new and which are just the same.
Recently we hired the Architectural Resource team again to redesign the other building on our property, a long-neglected carriage house. This project was immediately both more and less complicated—it quickly became clear that the carriage house was not salvageable so it had to be demolished. We had the freedom of designing a new building from the ground up, but also some demanding city building regulations to work within. Once again, the AR team shone. They applied creativity and ingenuity to design us a building that has everything we wanted while complying with city regulations and somehow, yet again, the building looks as if it has always been there. It is beautiful and energy efficient, historic on the outside and modern on the inside.

Should we someday have a third building project to tackle we would absolutely hire Architectural Resource again. Michael and his team are fantastic. They are professional, creative and enthusiastic. They are great communicators. They are flexible to changing circumstances—such as when we had to put our first project on hold for three years. They preserve and restore what is beautiful while embracing modern energy-efficient and sustainable design. We highly recommend them.

When we embarked on the ambitious project to connect our Historic 1850 Farmhouse to an already established carriage house, my wife and I braced for the usual renovation roller coaster. Little did we know, “unprecedented” wasn’t just a buzzword in 2020; it was our reality. The onset of Covid-19 slammed onto the scene just as planning work began, and what could have been a recipe for disaster became a testament to the incredible tenacity and ingenuity of Architectural Resource.

From the get-go, the Architectural Resource team was a dream. They listened intently to our vision: to maintain the farmhouse’s historic charm while infusing it with modern functionality, all seamlessly linked to the carriage house by a stunning second-story bridge. They then began translating our collaborative vision into blueprints that crackled with respect for the old and forged forward with a daring innovation.

But then, COVID-19 threatened to shut things down. In the hopes of getting a jump on on-site measurements, the team from Architectural Resource suited up in hazmat suites and descended upon our home for a 6-hour, one-and-done measurement extravaganza one day before the official regional quarantine began. After that, our physical site visits became obsolete and all future meetings were limited to phone calls & Zoom meetings. The future of our dream home felt fragile and uncertain. Yet, Architectural Resource didn’t flinch. They pivoted seamlessly to 100% virtual collaboration, using cutting-edge software to walk us through every design revision. When choosing a builder, they cleverly matched our project to the best contractor we could have requested to work on our historic home project. From then on, the three parties virtually worked on every foreseeable construction hurdle. Best of all, every meeting felt like a collaborative brainstorming session, not a sterile online presentation.

Their communication throughout was nothing short of stellar. The team kept us informed, addressed our concerns (even the late-night anxieties), and found creative solutions to every unexpected hiccup. The bridge, the cornerstone of the project, posed unique challenges as its design pushed the boundaries of historical preservation and modern engineering. What made it even more challenging was our desire to turn the bridge into more than a space of transition but a space to celebrate our property’s unique views and beauty by incorporating a sitting room. Michael and his team embraced these challenges enthusiastically, collaborating with structural engineers and historical consultants to ensure every beam and nail sang harmoniously with the past and the present.

The result? It is a jaw-droppingly beautiful home that exceeds our wildest dreams and stands as a testament to the power of human adaptability and the sheer brilliance of Architectural Resource. The bridge design molded into a vision reminiscent of a historic covered bridge. Walking across and sitting in that covered bridge isn’t just traversing physical space; it’s a journey through the past, present, and future, seamlessly stitched together by the genius of this incredible team.

Architectural Resource is your answer if you want a team that can navigate any literal and metaphorical storm and deliver a masterpiece. They turned a pandemic project into a triumph; we’ll be eternally grateful.

Thank you for turning our 1850 dream into a 2024 reality.

Five stars – and a standing ovation!