New Front on Front Street (and a Lighthouse on the Perquimans River)

Located on quiet Front Street in historic Hertford, NC, and set amid  several blocks of historic homes whose rear yards directly face the Perquimans River (AKA the Hertford “Riviera”), 206 N. Front Street was arguably the plainest looking house on the east side of Front Street , having previously been moved a block or so from across and down the street,  and then rotated towards the river many years ago. A previous renovation had installed vinyl siding, closed in windows, removed end chimneys, and added a small entry porch/stoop. When the current owners purchased it recently, they expressed a desire to “dress up” the front (the owner expressed it more colorfully),  and create some needed curb appeal.

Front St. (west) Elevation- Before (2022)

Front Street View from NW- Before (2022)

Front Street View from NW -After (2024)

Front Street Front Street View from SW – After (2024)

To that end, a new hipped roof porch supported on 4 box columns was added almost the full width of the front of the house, along with a new front cross roof gable. Turned Wood spindles salvaged from a previous house were reincorporated into the porch, but there were not enough salvaged spindles to complete it, so new spindles were milled to match.

The entire house was re-roofed with standing seam metal (“Galvalume”), and re-sided with composite siding.

The owners also wanted to cover an existing open deck (above) to make it a screened porch facing the river, relocate a first floor bedroom, create a full and half-bath on the first floor, add a small mudroom (for the dogs to enter), and open a hallway through an existing bathroom to make the Perquimans River visible upon entering the house.

A separate Master Bath was desired for the second floor, where previously the single Bathroom was accessed  from both the Hall and Master Bedroom.

Oh, and the Owner wanted to create a Lighthouse feature on the riverfront (east) side.

Nothing in my almost 40 years or so of practicing architecture had prepared me to design a lighthouse as part of a private residence, but with a little investigation into historic precedents, it turns out that the US Lighthouse Service had already grappled with this design problem years ago. I discovered two lighthouses in New Jersey that had integrated the light tower with the Keeper’s Residence; both of these, Tucker’s Island (below top), and Hereford Inlet (below middle) exhibited a vernacular style dwelling (similar to 206 N. Front Street), out of which sprang the lighthouse form. In addition, nineteenth century screw pile lighthouses found around Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound,  such as the Roanoke River Lighthouse in Edenton (below bottom) were typically constructed as dwellings with navigation lights incorporated.

Placement of the lighthouse element so as not to overwhelm the scale of the house, and not to appear as an obvious aberration in the historic district was the challenge, along with making it functional. The solution was to create the new second floor Master Bath within the lighthouse addition on the rear (riverfront)  side of the house, and maintain the overall height just under the town’s 35′ height restriction. The tower is basically a lightwell into the Master Bath from windows in the lantern above.  A freestanding soaking tub with a commanding view of the River  is situated directly below it.  Unless one knows the exact vantage point to stand, it’s barely noticeable from Front Street.

View of Screened Porch from NE -2024

View from River-2025

View from SE-2024

View from Screened Porch looking NE-2024