How They Pulled It Off: A Contemporary Addition to a Historic Cottage

Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

For architect Andrew Logan and interior designer Sara Cukerbaum, preserving a historic cottage in Austin’s oldest neighborhood required patience, adaptability, and restraint. Navigating landmark regulations, the homeowner’s desires, and inevitable challenges of integrating a modern addition, they let the home’s character lead the way as they updated it for modern living. Like many of Clarksville’s quaint double-gable homes, any contemporary add-on would remain secondary, allowing new and old to quietly fit within the tree-lined streetscape.

While a teardown was initially considered, they felt it was important to preserve as much of the original “charming and well-maintained” 780-square-foot cottage as possible. “We worked closely with the neighborhood and Historic Landmark Commission (HLC) to ensure the cottage remained the dominant feature,” says Logan. The addition would need to be “compatible with and differentiated from the historic building if it was going to be visible from the street,” he adds.

For the facade, they riffed on the patterned language of the surrounding homes, playing with “a concept of a new double gable, one being original and one new,” Logan says. The shiplap siding and trimmed-out windows paired beautifully with a palette of warm, natural materials inside. 

Maintaining the historic aspects of the original structure while also updating it for a more contemporary taste required a delicate balance, but the results were well worth the effort.

How they pulled it off: A contemporary home with history

• A visually distinct identity: Positioned behind the original ridgeline, the addition maintains the cottage’s historic presence. To reduce its impact, the first-floor footprint was built partially below grade, and the second story was kept as low as possible. A glass connector separates the new and old structures while introducing natural light. Original details like a built-in telephone niche and Dutch doors were kept, while nonoriginal shutters were removed. 

• Historically accurate materials: The addition is clad in Accoya siding from Delta Millworks, a nod to the cottage’s shiplap. “It’s one of the first materials they fell in love with,” Cuckerbaum says of the homeowners. The exterior palette had to be approved by the HLC as well.

• Modern yet welcoming interiors: The home embraces the future with 12-foot-ceilings and full-height glass, as well as a yard with plenty of room for relaxing, laying by the pool, and pickup soccer games. Additionally, there are terrazzo floors, Ceppo Blue marble around the fireplace for “a surprising pop,” adds the designer.