Historical Drama

A San Francisco landmark, built in 1867, sets the stage for a loft renovation by Robert Edmond

James Nestor -- Interior Design, 11/1/2010 3:25:00 AM

For Thomas Huot, home has rarely been a house. From a 14th-century convent in Paris, he moved to an 18th-century linen mill in London. Next came a 19th-century warehouse in Montreal. When he moved to San Francisco, he gravitated to the Oriental Warehouse, a block-long 1867 landmark built to store the rice, tea, silk, and other goods imported by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. "Living in a historic place is keeping it alive," he says.

For Thomas Huot, home has rarely been a house. From a 14th-century convent in Paris, he moved to an 18th-century linen mill in London. Next came a 19th-century warehouse in Montreal. When he moved to San Francisco, he gravitated to the Oriental Warehouse, a block-long 1867 landmark built to store the rice, tea, silk, and other goods imported by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. "Living in a historic place is keeping it alive," he says.

But as much as Huot is attracted to history, he has often felt stifled by the cramped floor plans and roughed-in aesthetics that usually come with it, and the duplex loft he bought in the San Francisco warehouse was no exception. Until he commissioned Edmonds + Lee Architects to address his seemingly opposing desires, that is. "The space was-how do I say this? Very beige," Robert Edmonds recalls. "Along with the drab color, there was no real hierarchy. Everything was cluttered and confused."

Edmonds and Huot met through a friend and immediately hit it off. For starters, both were embarking on a new chapter of their lives. Edmonds and his wife, Vivian Lee, arrived in San Francisco and founded their firm in 2005. Before that, they attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and worked, separately, at various New York firms on high-end residential projects and major museum expansions- Edmonds was on Steven Holl Architects' s team for the Nelson-AtkinsMuseum of Art in Missouri. Huot, a venture capitalist, moved to San Francisco in 2007.

Because Lee didn't participate directly in the loft project, Edmonds alone met weekly with Huot to define primary areas of focus. One was historical, notably the richly patinated timber beams and the worn brick walls. Another, by contrast, was his collection of colorful, abstract contemporary art. Combining these elements produced a 1,500-square-foot result that's equal parts gallery, diorama, and stage set for a cast of two, namely Huot and his girlfriend.

Open the front door, and you're immediately front-and-center, a player on a stage that flows uninterrupted from end to end, with a concrete wall as a backdrop. The living area makes the most of its double height and exposed rafters.
"When building new elements, we took the lightest, most delicate approach possible," Edmonds says.

Balustrades above the living area, for example, are unframed panels of clear glass, replacing gypsum-board. "We would have had nothing there at all," he adds. "But, you know, regulations."

After the living area come the dining area and the open kitchen. Cabinetry in the latter was built in front of a tangle of pipes and structural columns, most of which could be neither moved nor altered. The appliances are flush with the cabinet fronts. "I love this. Look how you can see a continuous line all the way down," Huot says, placing his head against one of the high-gloss white doors to demonstrate.

With nowhere to recess anything between the rafters, Edmonds hid lights behind kitchen cabinets and other built-ins, creating a diffused glow that also adds depth. Only the artwork is directly lit. The effect is of multiple bull's-eyes against the gray concrete or white paint.

With nowhere to recess anything between the rafters, Edmonds hid lights behind kitchen cabinets and other built-ins, creating a diffused glow that also adds depth. Only the artwork is directly lit. The effect is of multiple bull's-eyes against the gray concrete or white paint.

The oak treads of the previous staircase, ascending to the bedroom suite, were too thick for Edmonds and Huot's refined vision. "They broke up the fluidity of the space," Edmonds explains. He replaced them with razor-sharp steel so thin as to be barely noticeable. Of all the instances of stripping-down, the most dramatic occurs, appropriately, between the bathroom and bedroom. Next to the bed stands a wall of black-tinted glass that looks a bit like an art installation. Then, with a simple flick of a light switch, the color appears to fade away to reveal a huge shower, really a small room in its own right.

From the vantage point of the otherwise windowless bathroom, the magic wall eliminates claustrophobia by opening up a view that extends all the way out to the weathered brick of the building's courtyard wall. The sight line passes through not one, not two, but three layers of glass: the shower enclosure, the upstairs balustrade, and the loft's exterior windows. Taking a shower is like standing in a kind of kaleidoscope of reflections and refractions.

Huot adores the bachelor-pad swank of the shower. "I was single when Robert and I started designing the apartment," he explains. But his girlfriend, visiting the job site, kept asking him, "Where am I supposed to take a bath?"

Edmonds therefore made a last-minute alteration to the downstairs bathroom. Since a standard bathtub would have overwhelmed the small room, he opted for a customsize Japanese-style cedar tub. Installing the tub filler in the ceiling further kept things "as light as possible," he adds. In the eyes of this ultra-minimalist, less is apparently still more...more or less.

Photography by Bruce Damonte.

PROJECT TEAM
james kirkpatrick: edmonds + lee architects. intertie systems: audiovisual consultant. double-d engineering: structural engineer. mission bell manufacturing: woodwork. nueva castilla co.: steelwork. k.c. glass: glasswork. team commercial construction: general contractor.

PRODUCT SOURCES
FROM FRONT minotti: sofa (living area). tom dixon: pendant fixture (living area), sconce (stairwell). sub-zero: refrigerator (kitchen). miele: cooktop, oven. blanco: sink. grohe: sink fittings. benattar marble & granite: custom counter, backsplash. ligne roset: chairs (living area). simon: cocktail table. heller: chairs (dining area). ceramiche caesar: floor tile (upstairs bathroom). g-force glass: di­­vider material. hansgrohe: shower fittings (upstairs bathroom), tub fittings (downstairs bathroom). usm: shelving (balcony). b&b italia: bed (bedroom). roberts hot tubs: custom tub (downstairs bathroom). kohler co.: tub filler. THROUGHOUT junckers hardwood: flooring. benjamin moore & co.: paint.