Johnson-Leeds Residence

After purchasing a dilapidated 100 year old Victorian in a National Historic District in Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhood we knew we were in for a challenge, but we weren't sure just how much of a challenge it would end up being. We had no architect, no designer, a small budget, and one big dream! After 12 months of headaches, threats from neighbors, petitions from neighbors and even one very nasty message written literally on the exterior of our home....our dream became reality.
Our goal was to incorporate high end green materials, salvage existing materials and open up the space to create a modern rustic home. We hired a local company, to do the entire rehab. We gutted the house to the studs so that we had a clean slate to work with. The front facade had to be removed because it was ready to collapse and we also removed all interior walls to create a modern open space. We were able to salvage the original pine floors, mantels, staircase and repurposed a slab of broken marble from the vestibule floor to the bathroom countertop. We clad the facade in fiber cement board from a local company and had Concrete Zen fabricate custom concrete countertops, concrete floors and overlays in the kitchen, baths and hearths.