This is a fascinating house owned by a fabulous couple. The house is located in the downtown historic district in Hillsborough NC. From this photo you can see the beautiful stacked front porches and architectural details that hearken back to a time around the civil war. In actuality, this house (the one we see) was built in 1990! What you can not see is a tiny house in the rear of the structure that we think actually predates the civil war. The previous owner moved the historic structure to this lot and built a large two story addition adjacent to it. The two houses are merged on the interior by a deep cased opening. The historic structure, we think was potentially built by a lower class laborer due to the lack o detailing and architectural features. It was built to shelter and nothing more. Where the two houses were joined, a tricky roof condition was created. While being both unsightly and problematic to maintain, this area was prone to leaks and had fairly low ceilings. The interior was plain and simple, lacking the elegance of the new addition. The owners wanted to create more space upstairs with an addition over part of the historic structure and to completely redo the interior of the back part of the house. The shed roof over the existing kitchen was also a cause for leaks so this would need to be addressed during this project. The new addition upstairs includes a new master bathroom (existing space was reorganized to accommodate most of the bathroom, only the shower is located in the new footprint), a new master walk-in closet, a new full hall bath, a new laundry room and a new guest room. Downstairs was reorganized to include a large kitchen with ceiling heights to match the rest of the house, a butler’s pantry/office area, a beautiful banquet with bookshelves above the seating, a powder room, and a mud room. This all was planned to stay in the existing footprint. Construction is almost complete!

Construction: Aiello Builders, Inc.

Photography: Tom Bagby Photography