Daniel Gregory's article, excerpted Sunset magazine (visit the site for the full article and a photo tour & more):
There it sat — a forlorn and decaying stucco-and-shingle house with a sagging roof and disintegrating entry porch. That’s what Polly Moore saw on her hunt for a home in Pacific Grove, California.
But Moore sensed potential: The house had good bones, a great location on Monterey Bay, and most intriguing of all — the 1914 structure was designed by Julia Morgan, the architect of San Simeon’s Hearst Castle. With the help of architect Gretchen Flesher, Moore and her husband, Stuart Builder, looked past the disrepair to find a one-of-a-kind Craftsman-style treasure well worth restoring.
Bringing back the home’s original beauty, however, required a long list of projects: building a new entry porch; strengthening the roof; resheathing the exterior; replacing the 90-year-old plumbing and electrical systems; and updating the bathrooms.
Flesher + Foster, the firm hired to do the majority of the work on this project, has a long history of historically-accurate remodels and even some conservation work. Unfortunately - and for no good reason - their website doesn't do more than give a quick slideshow of a few of their more impressive projects. Too bad!
photograph by Thomas J. Story, from Sunset magazine
