The house was a modest modernist proposition set amid open fields and woods in Katonah, one of New York City’s choicest northern hamlets. It went up in 1974, and a decade later, the original architect Walter Pestrak was summoned back to nearly double the size, tacking on bedroom and laundry wings and a porch and terrace. Many years of hard use followed. When architects Bretaigne Walliser and Thom Dalmas appeared on the scene, the 50-year-old property, now belonging to a young family of four, required the architectural equivalent of a fresh draft.
Fortunately, Thom and Bret, a couple who together run TBo, are masters at well-composed revisions (scroll to the end to see their many projects that we’ve featured—and note the way they build cohesion and serenity into all their work).
Reports Bret of the tasks at hand: “Some issues were more immediate: the surrounding greenery was nearly swallowing the house, trees were growing through parts of the roof, and a chain-link fence used for a dog run had a prison-yard feel. Some issues were aesthetic but felt no less dire: the bathrooms and kitchen needed full gut renovations. And the windows, doors, and skylights were falling apart. We also made fundamental layout changes to improve circulation.
All that said, much was worth saving: “The house came with a great California-Sea Ranch/Mission-Style sensibility that beautifully suits the area and its rolling horse pastures.” Join us for a tour of the update, plus a glimpse of the project Before and In Progress.
Photography by Matthew Williams, courtesy of TBo (@tbo_partners).
Above: The house, now cleared of overgrowth and given a softened roof line, “sits more tenderly into the surrounding fields and forests,” says Bret. Scroll to the end to see the structure as it was. 
Above: The architects preserved the deep eaves on the south façade, which overlooks a meadow. They replaced the roof and all of the windows and re-stuccoed the exterior. 
Above: The newly open-flow living area has a preserved Douglas fir beamed ceiling ceiling and new oak floor. 
Above: The original arched chimney breast is newly plastered and open to the surrounding living space. That’s an Alvar Aalto vintage Tank Chair in front of the fire. 
Above: The 1980s renovation and additional wings had kind of pinned the kitchen into a dark core,” says Bret, noting that they reconfigured the layout to allow easy passage between all the living spaces.
They replaced “white laminate on its last legs” with cabinets of vertical grain Douglas Fir that “feels both well-dressed and relaxed.” The integrated j-pulls, Bret notes “allow the wood to take precedence.”
