Rabbit House

Longtime neighborhood resident, Marian Heckendorn Brackett, happily recalls harvesting the wild alfalfa from the empty corner lot to feed her pet rabbits when she was a child. This lot would eventually be developed for a home that has been nicknamed, the ‘Rabbit House’.
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Located on Packard Hill in Denver’s Potter Highlands Historic District, this 4,442 SF residence is a thoughtful and innovative expression of contemporary style while respecting the scale, materiality, and history of the existing home. Originally designed and built in 1938 by Welsh architect R.O. Parry, the Rabbit House was a single-story red brick Tudor Revival residence. The current owners moved in over 15 years ago. Having fallen in love with the history of the neighborhood and the classic façade of the house, they wished to keep as much of the existing structure as possible while adding much needed space for their growing family.

The existing Tudor Revival walls remained in place as two simple, steeply gabled forms grow up and out from the original brick. This new modern 1,760 SF addition is clad in black standing seam metal. Inside, the layout was modernized; utilizing a circulation tower at the south elevation to house the stair, creating an open main floor. The kitchen and dining room are mirrored on the exterior with an outdoor kitchen and dining space covered by the floating gable of the new cantilevered second story master bedroom.

The interior material palette is light and bright; crisp white drywall reflects daylight brought in by floor to ceiling windows and French doors. To add warmth, the casement windows and doors are framed with wood reveals that create shadow boxes adding depth and dimension. Honey colored white oak flooring is used throughout and as a ceiling detail to bridge between the original structure and the addition.

The juxtaposition between old and new showcase the sophisticated integration of modern design concepts like daylighting while incorporating traditional key Tudor Revival elements such as steep, multi-gabled roof lines, massive chimneys, decorative entryways, and casement windows with respect to the scale and history of the surrounding neighborhood. The new brick and metal material palette was inspired by traditional “noble materials”, brick, stone and slate, that were used to construct these historic Tudor Revival residences.