A new house inside an old shell. Restoration of historic home inspires and delights.
When the gavel dropped and the auctioneer declared 449 North Limestone sold, Maury Sparrow and Craig Wahlgren were a little surprised.
“We had looked at it prior to the auction but never dreamed we’d get it,” Maury recalled. “The gavel went down, and it was ours. There was some laughing and some crying.”
Except for squatters who partied there and grew marijuana in the attic, the 4,588-square-foot house built around 1900 had been unoccupied for 10 years. It was in terrible shape. To make matters worse, a previous owner had painted the brick red.
Regardless, Maury and Craig, who had recently restored a home in Kenwick neighborhood, saw the home’s potential and were eager to begin restoring it.
That was in 2014. The two-story Victorian cottage with an elaborate pyramidal roof in Lexington’s Mulberry Hill Historic District needed a complete overhaul. “It was more work than we thought it would be,” Maury recalls. The couple hired Darren Taylor, a Lexington architect with expertise in restoring historic homes.
“Our charge to him was to respect the original and stay true to the period,” said Maury, communication director for LexArts. He and Craig spent months studying every detail of the new floorplan. To save money, they did the demo work themselves. “We took this place down to the studs,” added Craig, who manages DryArt Salon.
Over the next three-and-½ years, Maury, Craig, Darren and contractor Sven Maffett worked together to return the historic residence to its original glory-- but with a fresh and exciting look. “It’s essentially a new house in an old shell,” Maury said.
With the LFUCG Historic Preservation Commission’s approval, they painted the exterior white for an instant and much-needed facelift.
They continued with white throughout the interior because, as Maury says, “Art shows well on neutral walls.” Living in an aesthetically pleasing environment with art at every turn is as essential as oxygen to both men—and the kitchen is no exception.
“There was one part of me that wanted floor-to-ceiling glass cabinets in the kitchen,” Maury said. “The other part said, ‘You need art on those walls. There’s plenty of storage in the base cabinets and the island and in the pantry.”
Keeping the walls bare for art won the debate. “It gives the space an open, airy feel,” Craig said. “We entertain a lot, and everyone seems to gravitate to the kitchen. We love it.”
When it’s just the two of them, Maury and Craig prefer to spend most of their time in the “side porch” family room. Natural light pours through eight windows into the cozy, simply furnished space where the couple watch television and play backgammon. Raised wood panels bring subtle dimension to otherwise plain white walls. “The idea was to add moulding without it being so traditional,” Maury explained.
One of the home’s two owners’ suites has three fireplaces and spans roughly half of the first floor. The bathroom is equipped with a modern step-up tile and marble shower and an old-fashioned soaking tub. The adjacent sitting/dressing room can also serve as a nursery, study or separate bedroom.
While there were many debates about details, there was never a question about what to do with the oculus, the stained-glass center of the domed ceiling in the entry hall, and the eight stained-glass windows surrounding it.
As an eye-catching work of art that’s original to the house, it inspires and delights guests. However, it also has a practical purpose. From the second floor, its windows can be opened to improve air circulation between the two floors. “It’s like a whole-house air conditioner,” Maury explained. “Open the back door, front door, a couple of windows and those, and you don’t need air conditioning.”
Maury and Craig added a second owners’ suite, a third en suite bedroom and a living area to the unfinished second floor. A steel-and-glass barrier around the oculus keeps inquisitive children from climbing on and possibly falling through the fragile glass.
The home is listed for sale by Becky Reinhold of Bluegrass Sotheby’s International Realty. To schedule an appointment to tour the home, contact her at 859-338-1838 or breinhold@bgsir.com.
This story was originally published January 5, 2020 at 1:12 PM.