My client purchased one of the last available parcels of waterfront property on Southport Island in Maine in 2006. I had worked, in 1989, with this client helping him with a major renovation and addition to his home in Maine.

The two projects were entirely different from each other. The first was a delicate renovation and addition to an 18th century New England Cape. The new project was a major renovation to a group of buildings that were in the 1960’s constructed on site, although there was speculation that they were moved to the site. This building had no sense of design or architectural character. It needed a direction.

The house is located within the Southport’s Shoreland Zone which requires a higher level of scrutiny from the Planning Board. The distance from the tide line and the allowed percentage of any new space is carefully regulated.

The location of the structure would not be allowed by today’s ordinances but since it existed it did not need to be moved to accommodate those rules.

We deemed the structure to be adequate to support a second floor and we pushed the ordinance to allow for a small addition. The addition of the second level allowed us to move bedrooms upstairs and remove most of the non-structural interior walls on the ground floor to open this level to a contemporary floor plan.

For more information on this project or to discuss your architecture/renovation needs, please contact us.