Grove House

Newton, Massachusetts

Located in an historic district on a beautiful wooded site, this renovated home was created from the bones of an existing tract house. The renovation was able to utterly change the look and feel of the home while working within a modest budget by utilizing the existing foundation, staying within the original footprint, and using the existing plumbing locations. 

The homeowners first commissioned MTA to design their summer home, Fallen Leaves on Martha’s Vineyard, and subsequently decided their primary residence should include the features they admired about their Island retreat. As a result, Grove House is light and bright, and expresses a clear connection between interior and exterior spaces.

The new design expands the home from a single story with 2,200 sf to a two-story home of 5,500 sf, with four bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms. The new second story is a master suite with two studies—his and hers. An exercise and TV room were added creating usable space in the basement. 

The home faces north, so interventions were required to ensure the home was not dark. The design uses clerestory windows to bring in light from above, and shifts in sections to create voids in the roof for light to enter.  The home is clad in stained red cedar siding, and the interior is painted in different subtle shades of white to reflect the light.