David Harlan Photo
New Haven-based architect David Harlan has won the 2012 Alice Washburn House Award, a prize administered by the Connecticut chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Connecticut Magazine. The award, according to the AIA Connecticut website, recognizes “excellence in traditional house design. Focused on style, this awards program is about the thoughtful and delightful adaptation of tradition to address 21st century needs in residential form.”
Harlan’s firm, David D. Harlan Architects, received the award for its work on the “Cottage at Extown Farm,” a structure “located on an historic 17-acre estate in New Canaan,” according to a project description, which indicates that “the current property was once part of a much larger farm that was developed between the early 1700s and 1778 when it then became New Canaan’s Poor Farm. … In 1928 the farm was sold by the town (now called ‘Extown Farms’). … In the late 1940s Extown was again sold. In 1998 those owners secured a ‘Deed of Conservation’ with Historic New England, formally SPNEA (Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities), which protected its architectural character and property from subdivision in perpetuity. … The objectives of the deed influenced the renovation of the ‘Cottage.’”
David Harlan Photo
Talking about his vision for the “Cottage House” project, Harlan said, in an e‑mail, “While we are the team leaders in the analysis and design process, it is a complex, collaborative process. … We first inspected and documented all elements of the main house and property to establish conditions, problems, and address solutions … From there design was not only the final appearance, but resolved structural and systems integrity and original material preservation. The cottage was not as stringently ‘protected’ as the main house, but we still collaborated with HNE as it contributes to the character of the south parcel’s ensemble. The overall results are always the consequence and therefore the responsibility of the owner and how much they entrust/delegate/approve of their architect and landscape architect’s designs and recommendations.”
As pointed out in the project description, Harlan was asked to “renovate and modestly enlarge the original caretaker’s’ cottage for the owners to live in while the main house and detached garage renovations are underway on the north parcel (across the street). In the future the cottage will become a guest house for family and friends.”
The work Harlan did with New Haven-based A. Defne Veral Interiors on the “Cottage at Extown Farm” is the subject of a feature in the July issue of Connecticut Magazine.