Building a Victorian Turret: A Regent Square Porch Renovation
Brashear House, before & after
What began as a porch upgrade and reasonable enhancements to an existing facade became a whimsical renovation in Pittsburgh's Regent Square neighborhood that elevated the character of the home without deviating from the architectural language of the neighborhood. Originally, the house needed a front porch that fit the surrounding area and a usable back porch to replace the one crumbling in the backyard.
After thorough studies of designs, colors, curb enhancements, seating solutions, and landscapes and hardscapes, and creative collaboration between Shelton Design/Build and the client, the design evolved to include a Victorian-style turret and a full-width back porch fitted with innovative roof details and hidden storage. The final design demanded intricate framing detail work from Shelton’s carpentry team and infused the home with a charming Victorian aesthetic without taking it too far.
The Back Porch: A Full-Width Covered Porch with Skylights and Hidden Kayak Storage
Around the back of the house, a small, deteriorated porch needed to be removed, opening up new opportunities for two of the homeowners’ wishes: to expand the outdoor living space and to enhance the natural daylight coming to the interior of the home.
The back porch before, during, & after construction
The new porch, 8 feet deep and extending the entire width of the house, gave new life to the cozy backyard. The porch is covered, but the addition of skylights allows sunlight to stream onto the ipe wood deck flooring and through the back window into the dining room. To accommodate the owners’ passion for boating, we created custom hinged panels underneath the porch to store kayaks and other supplies. The rich color story and aesthetic is carried through to the railing and roof ornamentation.
Hinged panels concealing kayak storage // Footed crescent brackets from Vintage Woodworks
Studies of back porch design options
A distinctive gabled ceiling accentuates the entry point of the porch and the home, featuring a mitered detail that showcases the true quality of the carpentry team’s craftsmanship. It is extremely difficult to align two edges when they come together in this manner, and, in most cases, an additional trim piece is needed to join the planes. In our case, Shelton Design/Build’s carpenters were so precise in the framing of the rafters that the joints aligned exactly with no need for any additional support.
“The carpenters’ precision is what made the detail a reality. No trim piece was needed because of how exact they were with the rough framing.” - Franklin Krouse, Shelton Design/Build Architectural Design Director and Associate
Creating the mitered-edge porch ceiling
The Front Porch and Balcony: A Victorian-Inspired Facade Refresh
The front porch and balcony before, during, and after construction
The initial design for the front of the house included an entry porch with a simple open-air balcony above. Shelton Design/Build studied the existing facade for opportunities for detail and curb enhancements and ultimately developed the Victorian-era-inspired color palette, railing design, and appliqué style that became the through lines of the house’s new character. Drawings broke out every plane of the structure to communicate the multiple layers of framing needed.
Original designs for the front porch and balcony
When inspiration struck mid-project, design plans pivoted to realize the vision.
How We Built a Custom Turret on a New Balcony
Instead of leaving the balcony open to the sky, an exciting new design feature was added to the scope: the turret. Figuring out the geometry of the turret required close collaboration between the architect and carpenters. Drawings were printed at full scale and a 3D model was created to coordinate dimensions and angles.
SketchUp 3D model of the turret // New designs for the front porch and balcony
Once the design was perfected, the carpentry team erected a stick frame, built in-place on the balcony roof, made up of a hexagonal lower base ring and the main hip rafters. Common rafters were infilled along with three rows of collar ties to bind it all together. A secondary slope kicked out the lower fifth of the structure for a flared look and a custom-built hexagonal ridge post joined all of the rafters together. Finally, Welte Roofing was subcontracted to install the lightweight DaVinci roofing tiles.
The making of the turret
The resulting, distinctive design feature has been stopping bypassers in their tracks ever since and stands as a testament to a truly collaborative design-build approach.
You can view all of the final project photos in our portfolio here.
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