Jes Paone had always planned to return to the quaint, gabled house in Concrete, Washington, where he grew up, but in 2016 it mysteriously burned down while no one was around. The Brooklyn architect decided to rebuild, in part to help his mother deal with the loss but also to create a retreat for his family of three that could eventually become their primary residence. Reference materials were scarce—there was only one photo, plans were nonexistent, and Jes hadn’t visited the site since leaving as a teen—so he relied solely on childhood memories to sketch out designs of the home, with a few updates.

For Jes, it was as much a chance to re-create a sentiment-filled space as it was to apply expertise he’d honed designing luxury apartments in New York for 20 years. From the outside, the new 1,900-square-foot house looks and feels as though it’s always been there, with roughly the same footprint, set in the same location. But inside, sleek finishes like marble counters combined with midcentury furnishings create the effect of a pared-back loft, bridging the architect’s East and West Coast worlds as well as his past and present.

Committed to Memory

Jes Paone: Like a lot of hippies in the 1970s, my family moved to Concrete to be closer to nature. The strongest recollections I have from my childhood home are of wood: its abundance nearby, chopping it, the smell of it burning in our stove fireplace, and the heat it provided.

Our house was modest, with two bedrooms on the first floor and one on the second. When it burned down, there was nothing left. It was hemmed in by a perimeter of hundred-foot-tall fir trees and a barn that survived, so it was easy for me to locate the original structure’s exact footprint. Based on that, I began drawing what I could remember of the pitched roof and general layout.

From both a nostalgia and cost standpoint, it was important to source the same local materials, like cedar shingle siding for the new cladding. I placed the windows and doors where I remembered them being and then played with their position and the shingles’ overlap to make a clean line where the last one would leave off.

Taking Some Liberties

JP: Though the specs are mostly the same as the original house, I didn’t want the new one to be a country home, at least not inside. It’s basically the same layout. A front porch leads to a combined dining/living room. Off a hallway are the kitchen, a full bath, and two bedrooms. A stair leads up to the primary suite. But it has more of a city dweller aesthetic: clean lines, white plaster walls, and industrial materials like extruded metal for handrails, unfinished brass door handles, and unlacquered brass fixtures in both bathrooms.

Something Old, Something New

JP: Since the site is a floodplain, FEMA required the first level of the new home to be raised by six feet to help prevent damage. The added benefit is that this enhances the views. A ten-foot-wide, double-pane picture window in the living room perfectly frames Mount Baker in the distance.

The roof’s pitch is exaggerated from the original to accommodate a full second level with a bedroom and en suite bath. I introduced arches, like at the front door and in the hallway, to bring a bit of Brooklyn into the equation but also to reflect the town’s old concrete silos, built by its now-defunct cement industry.

Growing up, it was my chore to keep our woodstove going and the home warm. While we do have a few electric baseboards, a new stove can heat the entire house on its own.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Jeshua Paone Architecture Studio / @jeshuapaonearchitecturestudio

Builder: Taurus Construction, Inc

Structural engineering: CRH Engineering

Cabinetry: J&K Cabinetry

Wood Stove and HRV: Handy’s Heating

Electrical: Meridian Center Electric

—

Head back to the September/October 2024 issue homepage

Appears In

Construction Diary: An Architect Relies on Memory to Rebuild His Childhood Home