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When Peter and Louise Harran bought a 1913 house in Sonoma last year, they knew exactly what they were doing. Not many people could have seen beyond the neglected yard, the instances of code violations and the cruddy 1950s siding that had been slapped onto the exterior half-a-century ago. But Peter Harran recognized good bones when he saw them. After all, he and his wife had already renovated five homes in Marin and Napa counties.
“The first time we saw it, it spoke to us because structurally and aesthetically it was untouched by the three previous owners,” says Peter Harran. “And it represented a specific genre that was great fun working with.
“The original lines of the building were a clean example of Shingle Style, which later evolved into the Craftsman, then Bungalow and eventually Prairie styles,” explains Harran, who says the architecture was so compelling that he spent nearly six months trying to buy the place on East Second Street.
Harran makes a distinction between historic restoration – which is his specialty -- and what’s called historic renovation.
Renovation is done “willy-nilly” he says, not necessarily according to the original lines. “With restoration, it’s possible to make changes but you try to have it look like Day One.” That means incorporating as many historic fixtures and as much original hardware as possible. As an example, Harran took the old front porch light fixture, which was not coded for exterior use, restored it, and relocated it to an interior ceiling.
“There are a ton of original details and craftsmanship, which we kept and enhanced wherever possible. Where we did make changes to update and make the home more livable – like in the bathrooms and kitchen – we painstakingly reproduced original detail using traditional finishes,” says Harran. “We took every original piece of door and window hardware to the plater and had it either oil-rubbed, bronzed, nickeled or chromed.”
Thanks to the Craftsman tradition of an open floor plan, the house already had great “flow”. The Harrans did redesign the kitchen with entertaining and families in mind, adding a lot of counter space, a breakfast nook and double French doors that open onto a hardwood deck and expansive lawn. Upstairs, they also created a dressing room in the master bedroom and “saved” the old sleeping porch by transforming it into a space suitable for a playroom or an office. The house now has three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths, including a master bathroom with a walk-in shower.
“We worked with a talented local designer, Matthew Stocker, who does genres in his sleep,” says Harran. “From crown to color, he nails it all. He is a stickler for small details and we would have missed so much without him.” It was Stocker, for instance, who pointed out evidence of original 6”-by-6” corbels supporting the flared-out water table for the second story, which had been lost when the house was re-sided 40 years ago and which the Harrans replaced. They also insulated the entire structure and stripped the old shingles and replaced them with red cedar.
On a smaller scale, the Harrans were intent on preserving details such as the “patina” left by previous residents, like the small pair of hearts scratched into one of the built-in cabinets in the dining room. “You just know there’s a story behind that,” Harran says with a laugh, “like some eight-year-old girl getting into serious trouble when it was discovered – How long ago was that?
“Even though we re-stained and varnished each piece of trim, we left nicks like that in the wood as a testament to the grace of time.”
Inevitably, perhaps, the Harrans fell in love with the place, but they are professionals who thrive on finding a neglected, run-down historic property and giving it new life.
“After all the blood, sweat and tears we’ve poured into this restoration, it seems a shame to sell this home,” Harran says. “But it is gratifying to know that it will make someone very happy to own their very own piece of early Sonoma history.”
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Photo By Rebecca Gosselin
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