B+A Greater Boston

PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER LEWITT PROJECT: Bay Village, Boston, MA BUILDER: Essex Restoration ARCHITECT: Snare + Snare This condo won NARI, Eastern Massachusetts, Gold Contractor of the Year Award. The Art Deco building was originally built by Columbia Pictures in 1955. Ten years ago, it was developed as condos and a third floor was added. The client, a young family of four was the owner of one of three units on the top floor. When the adjacent condo became available, the couple purchased it combining two units into one large condo with a roof deck. Walter says "This imaginative and creative project, with the client's ambitions being at the forefront, challenged us repeatedly but won us Contractor of the Year in 2016!" An open-plan home that connects two private wings, with lots of natural light and a more spacious kitchen/dining/living area with space for a grand piano "It was a fun challenge—the engineering of it," says Walter Beebe-Center, owner of Essex Restoration, who led construction on the renovation. The team had to establish how and where to penetrate the roof, move neighboring ductwork, calculate the weight of the structure and furnishings, build it safely to code, wire it for speakers and install an irrigation system for the rooftop garden. PHOTOGRAPHY: DAMIANOS PHOTOGRAPHY "One 500-square-foot roof deck gave me 100 problems to solve," says Walter Beebe-Center. That was the fun part—figuring out the geometry and what would fit. An herb, flower garden, large grill, and a large space for the children and adults with plenty of space to have fun were their priorities. That was a challenge Walter and his team enjoyed conquering. 1 6 | BOSTON.BUILDERARCHITECT.COM Builder+Architect GREATER BOSTON, CAPE COD AND THE ISLANDS COVER FEATURE

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