2008 Preservation Awards
Coombs House
902 Garfield St., Madison
Photo: Jason Tish
Jennifer and Christian Collins, owners
Matt Christensen, Christensen Construction
John Zafari, Early Bird Painting
Award: Residential Restoration
The Coombs House sits at the corner of Garfield and Adams Streets in the Vilas neighborhood. Built in 1901, it was a single-family home for most of its life, then recently went the way of so many frame houses in downtown Madison – it became a student rental. Fortunately the neighborhood’s alderperson lives very close by, so she kept an eye on the property. The house was never carved up into apartments, though it suffered many indignities as a bona fide “party house.”
Chris and Jenni Collins and their two young daughters moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., where they had already restored two historic houses. They were interested in a “fixer-upper” in one of the older neighborhoods. The Vilas neighborhood is a National Register Historic District, and because of that fact, the projects qualified for Historic Home Owner's Tax Credits, administered through the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The house was structurally sound, but it needed exterior work, replacement of the knob-and-tube electrical system, some interior updating, and bat removal. The Collinses chose contractor Matt Christensen because he was willing to work with them in stages, plus he lived in the neighborhood and his signs were in the yards of many neighbors.
Of the exterior projects, the third floor dormers and their columns, the wraparound porch, and two sets of stairs needed the most attention. One exceptional detail was that not only did the Collinses retain and repair all of their historic windows, they also had new wooden storms created. Finally, the whole house was painted by Early Bird Painting, so it is no longer the big white (party) house on the corner, and instead enhances the neighborhood as a rental-to-single-family success story.
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Other 2008 Award Winners
Coombs House
902 Garfield St.
Madison
Jacobs II House
Studio/Carport
University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Mechanical Engineering
Building
Samba Restaurant,
the Woman’s Building
