Young again at 105

BY RICHARD AMRHINE

When prolific Fredericksburg builder H.C. "Peck" Heflin built the house at 1311 Washington Ave. in 1904, the Queen Anne Victorian was no doubt considered one of the street's most handsome additions, with its multiple gables and an inviting wraparound porch.

Today the house is undergoing a major renovation and expansion that will not alter its curb appeal so much as enhance it.

On the inside, the project will yield all the amenities of a modern home blended with the tall ceilings and architectural features that make the 105-year-old home a timeless classic.

When the property was on the market last year, one of its main attractions was the size of its lot, which at about a third of an acre encompasses three city lots. That would provide new owners with plenty of room for expansion. In July 2008, Jay and Beth Jarrell became the new owners.

"We fell in love with the porch and the bay windows," Jarrell said. There was also his desire to move into the city to be closer to family. But they also wanted to enlarge and remodel it.

THE PROJECT

The Jarrells called on contractor Steve Pavey to be the on-site, hands-on superintendent for the project. The addition will double the finished square footage of the four-level house from 4,500 square feet to about 9,000 square feet while renewing the original house and upgrading all systems.

For Pavey the challenge of such a project is merging old and new, which can be an adventure both inside and out.

"We found out at the beginning that when they were building houses like this back then there were no footers," he said. "They just set the foundation down in the dirt."

But when they took preconstruction measurements for the addition, Pavey found only a quarter-inch difference from the front of the existing house to the back. To have so little settling after more than a century was amazing, he said.

Because the house is among the properties in the Washington Avenue Historic District, the portions of the home's exterior that can be seen from both Washington Avenue and Hawke Street needed to follow the city's Architectural Review Board guidelines. The renovations may unify the appearance of the old and new portions of the house, but differences between old and new must be readily discernible.

HISTORIC AND EFFICIENT

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Like the other neighborhoods that surround Kenmore, the Washington Avenue properties were once part of the Kenmore plantation owned by Fielding Lewis--George Washington's brother-in-law--who built the mansion in the 1770s.

After Lewis died in 1781, the plantation, beyond the existing Kenmore property, was slowly sold off in parcels, which were then subdivided into residential lots over the ensuing 100-plus years.

Homes in those blocks of Washington Avenue facing the grassy mall were built around the turn of the 20th century.

The home at 1311 Washington Ave. was owned for a time by A. Prescott Rowe, who prior to his death in 1925 was publisher of The Free Lance and the Daily Star. They were separate newspapers under common ownership at the time. It's uncertain whether he was the home's original owner.

--Richard Amrhine

Steve Pavey may be a newcomer to historic downtown renovation work in Fredericksburg, but he's spent half of his 36 years in the trade.

Based in Spotsylvania, Pavey got into construction work after graduating from Courtland High School in '91, and started his own business in 1999.

To act as the general manager for the project, Jay Jarrell brought in veteran area builder John Hetrick.

The plans for the project were drawn by Mike Calvin of The Plan Shop in Spotsylvania. The firm has supplied plans to many of the area's builders. Visit planshop.biz.

--Richard Amrhine

Date published: 11/6/2009

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