Architect Chester “Chet” Wisniewski, former apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, built a woodworking shop on Martha’s Vineyard in 2001 as a place to build and repair sailboats. After he passed in 2015, his sons John, Tom, and Joe Wisniewski found themselves faced with the decision of what to do with the space. “We knew the shop had maintenance problems, and we knew we needed to do something if we wanted to save the building,” says Tom.

To preserve the structure, the brothers turned to designer and architect Erin Pellegrino, who had previously renovated the Glasshouse, another of Chet’s properties on the Vineyard. Together, they converted the space into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom family retreat called The Shop.

“We can’t necessarily draw on what’s been done in the past,” Pellegrino says of tackling the renovation. “Whether Chet meant to or not, he set this up as another way of experimenting. But then to translate that into how [John, Tom, and Joe] use the space and the expansion and interaction of their family—to me, that was a really interesting design problem.”

Before: Workshop and Machinery Court

An emphasis on family life was central to the deeply collaborative design process between Pellegrino and the brothers. “The big open living space is very much where their social lives happen,” says Pellegrino, who sought to strike a balance between the space’s rustic and utilitarian accents and the brothers’ shared affinity for modern and midcentury design. Interior walls of birch plywood complement the alternating bands of Douglas fir and spruce boards in the shop’s original flooring, which was sanded and refinished.

After: Dining Room, Kitchen, and Bar

Building on Chet’s original vision, Pellegrino designed windows to install along the roof’s gable ends. Their south-facing exposure bathes the living area in sunlight throughout the afternoon, while east- and west-facing clerestory windows along the trussed roof illuminate the home in the early mornings and evenings. Three sliding glass doors along both lengths of the residence lead onto the wraparound deck, keeping the site’s greenery within view.

A shared love of cooking encouraged the brothers, who are all at least six feet tall, to opt for 40-inch kitchen counters in lieu of the standard height of 36 inches. Honed absolute black granite countertops contrast with the warm, bright space and are impervious to stains, splatters, and spills. Thanks to the sturdy original flooring, The Shop’s main level can easily support the antique bandsaw-turned-bar, the cantilevered island countertop, and its waterfall edge—not to mention the 20 or so guests that the family regularly hosts.

Before: Living Area

For the family, the significance of open space was twofold: In addition to an open floor plan for gatherings and entertaining, they also wanted to preserve sight lines to The Shop’s extraordinary trussed roof. “If we got rid of that [open space], we would lose the sense of the house,” explains Tom.

Tom helped his father create the roof’s design schematics and believes it was inspired in part by the Shinto shrines Chet saw in Japan during his military service. “He wanted it to be truly open because, one, he liked those kinds of spaces and, two, his dream was that he would be able to drive a sailboat up into it, and the ceilings would be high enough that he could work on the boat during the winter.”

After: Living Room

One puzzle for the design team to solve was creating three bedrooms while preserving the openness of the home. Pellegrino’s solution was to create a module off of the kitchen and living room that would enclose the laundry room, bedrooms, bathrooms, and discreet entrances to both the basement and the newly expanded loft. The loft provides additional living space without blocking the visibility of the original roof.

After: Bedrooms and Bathrooms

“For a structure that essentially was not enclosed, everything was in decent shape with the exception of the areas where the water was really beginning to penetrate,” explains Pellegrino, who had to remove water-damaged extensions of the original roof to prevent the damage from spreading. “Twenty to 30 years later, we now have more understanding of how certain things work or better products, along with better ideas of waterproofing that essentially allow us to fix previous mistakes and build upon what Chet was trying to do.”

Before: Exterior

More Before & After:

A Remodel Connects an Isolated Kitchen to the Rest of a Pre-War Brooklyn Apartment

A Philadelphia Architect Opens Up Her Historic Row House

A Time-Capsule Carriage House in San Francisco Is Gracefully Modernized

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Erin Pellegrino for makethink / @makethinkdesign

Builder: Tashmoo Restoration

General Contractor: Joe Grillo

Structural and Civil Engineer: Kent Healy

Landscape Design: Wild Violets

Interior Design: Erin Pellegrino for makethink

Cabinetry Design: Erin Pellegrino for makethink and KGL Woodworking

Construction Foreman: Wally Gold

Caretaker and Landscaping Contractor: Tauras Biskis

Plumbing: Tashmoo Plumbing & Heating

Electrician: Robert Gilbert Electrical

Special Thanks: YoungJin Yi and Charlie Firestone

Also Appears In

Before & After: A Trio of Brothers Turn Their Father’s Boatbuilding Workshop Into a Family Retreat