Carrol Residence

The clients were looking for a home for a new season of life. They wanted to spend more time in Chattanooga, where they already had family, and to share more of their life with them. They found an urban lot in the North Shore neighborhood and asked for a home that could support an active life, with room for large family gatherings and intimate nights by the fire. The kitchen was the heart of it, a place for people to gather, eat, and share stories.

The land is a typical urban lot, surrounded by rows of craftsman bungalows. It sits on a corner, which gave us a little room to breathe on one side, and the front drops steeply toward the street.

Hemmed in on one side, the house had little outdoor space to give, and the gatherings they hoped for needed somewhere to spill out. We were drawn to the bungalows around it, and wanted the home to belong among them while keeping its own detail clean and modern, to celebrate their Dutch heritage and sensibility.

We opened the home to the corner, stacking the kitchen, living room, and outdoor terrace to capture what little open ground the site had. The drop at the front let us terrace the stairs up to a craftsman front porch, perched above the street with long views in winter. The final home became a simple place for a new season of life, one they can share with their growing family.