{"id":2958,"date":"2024-04-09T08:08:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T00:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2024\/04\/09\/california-in-cambridge-a-boston-house-remodel-by-barbara-bestor-and-carter-design\/"},"modified":"2024-04-09T08:08:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T00:08:00","slug":"california-in-cambridge-a-boston-house-remodel-by-barbara-bestor-and-carter-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/california-in-cambridge-a-boston-house-remodel-by-barbara-bestor-and-carter-design\/","title":{"rendered":"California in Cambridge: A Boston House Remodel By Barbara Bestor and Carter Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In San Francisco, they\u2019re known as Painted Ladies. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, there isn\u2019t a name for the preferred\u2014and, if you ask us, far more compelling\u2014Victorian house palette: exteriors in severe blacks, charcoals, and grays offset by front doors in wild lipstick shades like Lilac and Vixen Red.<\/p>\n

LA architect Barbara Bestor of Bestor Architecture knows and appreciates this Boston tradition\u2014she herself grew up in Cambridge. Her client, Doug Zell, the peripatetic cofounder of Intelligentsia Coffee, brings an outsider\u2019s interest to local ways\u2014and an inclination to loosen things up. The divorced father of one came to town a few years ago for a romance that didn\u2019t work out\u2014and ended up staying to open two outposts of his coffee bar and to remodel a historic Cambridge house. Having worked with Bestor a decade earlier on Intelligentsia Coffee\u2019s much-buzzed-about Silver Lake location, he recruited her practice for all of these jobs. Bestor, in turn, enlisted Cy and Genevieve Carter of Carter Design, based in LA and Long Island, to orchestrate the house\u2019s furnishings. The team approached the project with respect\u2014and also a Californians\u2019 understanding of comfort and the need for some fun. Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n

Photography by and courtesy of Laure Joliet.<\/p>\n


Above: The house was built in the 1880s in Cambridge\u2019s Strawberry Hill neighborhood. Previously painted white, it was given a proper Boston color combo: Farrow & Ball\u2019s Black Blue with a front door in a custom-mixed Fine Paints of Europe high-gloss matched to the British Standard Colour Poppy Red. A fan of \u201ccombining the serious with the playful,\u201d Zell says the palette comes from the longstanding influence of British design in Boston, <\/p>\n

The ground floor windows are original; Bestor took out the vinyl windows that had been added to the second floor and attic and reintroduced true divided-lite wood windows with sashes painted Benjamin Moore black. She also added a standing-seam metal roof, she says, for \u201chyper-functionality and to give the traditional New England home a slightly more industrial, modern texture.\u201d (Go to Hardscaping 101 to read about the benefits of metal roofs.)<\/p>\n

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Above: The upgraded front door has stained glass sidelights in periwinkle blue. The Brass House Numbers are from Prime Mailboxes. The porch and railings are the originals, restored and refinished. The team worked with local builder John Palladino.
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Above: All is light and bright in the entry and living room. The downstairs floor plan was largely preserved but every surface required attention: \u201cIt looked as if the previous family had walked around covered in metal brushes and bumped up against everything,\u201d says Zell. <\/p>\n

The new flooring is oak. The hat-shaped tole umbrella stand came from local interior designer and antiques dealer Charles Spada.<\/p>\n


Above: The rosewood sofa is a midcentury Milo Baughman design found in Boston and upholstered in a velour from Kneedler Fauch\u00e8re in LA. The kilim chair is a George Smith classic bought on 1st Dibs. The domed light is from local go-to modern dealer Reside in Cambridge. Zell displays his vintage game collection in the coffee table.,

Above: Zell requested a fireplace and Bestor suggested instead a better-for-the-environment (and easier to install) Rais wood-burning stove. Workstead\u2019s Brass Orbit Sconces flank the entry to the dining room.
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Above: Zell has frequent houseguests, many of them cyclists\u2014he himself is a rider and, in addition to being a craft coffee impresario, is cofounder of Allied Cycle Works, makers of carbon fiber road bikes. He says his round dining table\u2014a 19th-century French drop-leaf design\u2014helps the room feel less formal and enables group conversation. The Salt Dining Chairs are from DWR. The Carters found the mid-century brass chandelier on 1st Dibs. <\/p>\n

Bestor and team linked the room to the kitchen by widening the passageway between the two.<\/p>\n


Above: The designers started from scratch in the kitchen, introducing custom Shaker-style cabinets and a center island topped with edge-grain maple butcher block. Bestor removed the ceiling to expose the gabled peak (with added skylights) and replaced French doors with a glazed back wall and slider.,<\/p>\n

Zell already owned the industrial stools.<\/p>\n


Above: The island is lit by Piet Hein Eek\u2019s TL Suspension Light in copper. <\/p>\n

Despite having an endless supply of coffee, Zell says he sticks to three cups a day: he gets espresso at Intelligentsia and often makes pour-over coffee at home using Chemex or Kalita glass pots, \u201cone American, one Japanese.\u201d<\/p>\n


Above: The cabinets are painted Black Bean from Dunn-Edwards and the copper pulls are window Sash Lifts from Historic Houseparts. Note the large divided farm sink (for sourcing see 10 Easy Pieces: White Farmhouse Sinks).
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Above: One of the most used corners in the house is the breakfast nook. The Carters upholstered it in black cherry leather and designed the oval table. The pair of Alvar Aalto chairs, from Reside, came out of a library at Harvard.
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Above: Bestor used space from the dining room and an awkward existing bath to create a cabin-like powder room. Of the Douglas fir shiplap paneling Zell says, \u201cI wanted this room to feel like a separate experience. I\u2019m from Wisconsin, and I like the Northwoods sauna vibe.\u201d In lieu of a shade or curtains, Bestor masked the view of the house next door by installing a colorful patchwork of stained glass.,

Above: The main hall and curved stair were kept as is. The bench, long ago assembled from an old French chicken coop, has cubbies ideal for mail. The steel shoe sculpture is by Massachusetts artist Madeleine Lord.
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Above: Bestor reconfigured the second floor and transformed a space barely big enough for a bed into this en suite bedroom. The striped throw blanket is by Coyuchi; the Carters found the valet chair on Chairish.
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Above: \u201cI like stuff with energy,\u201d says Zell of the bathroom\u2019s Fez concrete tile from Granada Tiles in LA \u2014Bestor famously set off a trend 12 years ago, when she used the same pattern in blue in her Silver Lake Intelligentsia design: see our 2010 Restaurant Visit report.,

Above: Bestor \u201ccleaned up the second floor hall\u201d\u2014in addition to the master suite, she created a guest bedroom and bath\u2014and the Carters supplied this 18th century linen cupboard.
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Above: A  classic New England rope stair rail, a Remodelista favorite, leads to the attic. Through use, it will take on a patina over time.
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Above: The attic got divided into an office and Zell\u2019s teenaged daughter\u2019s room. The Shutter Bed is from Maine Cottage and comes in 35 colors (Oyster is shown here). The vintage crow flag came from Olde Good Things.
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Above: The Carters piled an under-the-eaves bench with cushions made from Japanese fabrics and found remnants. <\/p>\n

Here are three more Bestor Architecture projects:<\/p>\n