Always by Design

Architect Ed Barnhart provides glimpses into his residential practice, Always by Design, and the lives and homes of recent clients.

To Raze or Raise? When buying an existing house, especially when it’s primarily for the location, is it better to renovate or build new? In this case, the buyers of an early twentieth century house in Cape May wanted to create an open-concept living-dining-kitchen and add a bedroom and master bath. The house was below proper flood elevation and didn’t conform to current zoning setback standards. After studying the pros and cons of new construction versus adapting the existin...g, it became clear that grandfathering the existing footprint and raising the house to comply with flood regulations would be the most advantageous for the owners. After obtaining the necessary township approvals, we started construction by lifting the house. Once a new code-compliant foundation is in place, the house frame will get lowered down to its final height and renovations to the house will begin. See more