Designers Restore Mansion from the Ashes

Reading, PA— According to various cultural legends, when a phoenix is consumed by flames and dies, it rises again from the ashes more beautiful and powerful than before. The story of the Windsor Street Decorator’s Show House presents a similar tale.

The 15-room Colonial Revival/Georgian-style mansion sits on the edge of the Centre Park historic district in Reading, PA. Just five months after the homeowners had bought the property and renovated it extensively, it was destroyed by fire in January of 2007. The homeowners – undaunted – made the decision to transform the remodeled home into a Decorator’s Show House.

The homeowners not only raised money for charity with their endeavor, but were also able to transform their ruined home into something truly beautiful again. The proceeds were split between the Reading Symphony Orchestra and Co-County Wellness Services, a local AIDS charity.

A team of 20 designers and craftsmen from across Pennsylvania helped to transform the wreckage into this stunning showhouse.

Damage Control

“When I first entered the Georgian Colonial Revival style home in June of last year, it was a mess. Much of the fire damage had been cleaned up, but the smoky smell permeated the air and some of the rooms were still black with soot,” says Stratton Yatron, CFO and co-owner of Adelphi Kitchens and Cabinetry.

Creating a new kitchen for the clients became a project in which Yatron and associates fully invested themselves.
Yatron created the overall kitchen design, while Ranae Borden of Fromm Electric designed a complementary lighting scheme and C.H. Briggs Hardware designed and fabricated the countertops.

Yatron specified his firm’s custom birch wood cabinetry with a classic Churchill door style. Beaded insets and walnut accents continue design elements found in other parts of the house. The hand-painted snowcap with a mocha glaze adds a light contrast to other, darker design elements. The floor-to-ceiling framed cabinets were hand-assembled by the craftsmen for the kitchen which were tied to the approximately 9'5" ceiling with a two-piece crown molding whose assembly mimicks the crown details throughout the home.

The designers had to make sacrifices due to the size of the existing footprint; although the kitchen’s work triangle is small, work surfaces line the room leaving ample space for food preparation and presentation, despite the lack of a central island. DuPont Zodiaq countertops in Royal Brown, a new shade in the company’s OKITE collection, provide an attractive complement to the pale cabinets.

Space Race

“The kitchen is rather small by today’s standards, but has beautiful high ceilings,” explains Yatron.

The primary concern for the designers was how to keep the traditional feel of the original kitchen, add in suitable storage solutions while maintaining the existing footprint.

The sink and refrigerator formed the starting point for the design. The existing plumbing was such that the sink had to be placed beneath the large, central window. This narrowed down the choice of spaces in which the specified 36" GE Profile stainless steel refrigerator would fit.

The refrigerator was positioned opposite the sink, to provide sufficient wall cabinet storage space near the GE Profile dishwasher. The range and hood, also from GE Profile, were then placed on the remaining wall.

As with any project, there were some unanticipated challenges. For instance, “The homeowners wanted a professional range, but the openings and turnings leading into the room were too narrow to accommodate that choice,” explains Yatron. Instead, the 30" gas range, built-in microwave and small walnut range hood complete the kitchen’s work station.

The contrast of light wood and dark stains not only provides various focal points in the design, but also works to continue the use of materials specified in other parts of the home’s design. The walnut wood hood is stained in a cinnamon shade as is a pair of turned columns placed next to the range. A rack system for canned goods was created, and concealed in the turned columns are pull-out spice racks to maximize space usage. A deep, open plate rack is placed directly to the right of the sink.