HMFH Architects

As part of a scattered site public housing program, HMFH designed the renovation and restoration of a 19th century mansard structure into four family apartments. The formerly stately home, situated between two National Historical Districts, had been cut up into a rooming house, abandoned, and vandalized. The interior was gutted and rebuilt into a two-floor, two-bedroom unit, one two-bedroom and two three-bedroom flats, for a total of 4,600 SF. Careful attention to interior details, high ceilings, and bay windows make these public housing units unusually spacious. All systems were replaced. The exterior restoration, approved and funded in part by the Historical Commission, included stripping and partial replacement of beaded clapboard, repair of slate roofing, and a new porch closely reminiscent of the original verandah, and provides four low-income family apartments for the Cambridge Housing Authority.