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Waterfront façade.

Mid-Century
Mid-Century

Makeover
Makeover

Waterfront House Regains

Lost Stylishness by Steven K. Dickens, AIA, LEED AP

Wiedemann Architects is a residential firm best known near Easton, Maryland, he immediately wanted to buy,
for traditionally-styled houses and apartments. The firm renovate, and restore it—notwithstanding that he had no
also has a growing portfolio of highly modern residences. particular purpose in mind for the house. Moreover, while
But the firm had never done a house—either new or a interest in Mid-Century Modern has surged in recent
renovation—in the Mid-Century Modern style popular years, the trend apparently hadn’t reached charming
from the 1950s to the ’70s. “I’m passionate about all styles but conservative Talbot County: In the real estate listing,
of architecture,” said principal Greg Wiedemann, AIA. none of the photographs showed the house at all! The
He recognized Mid-Century Modern as a “missing link in listing focused on views of the Tred Avon River and
the evolution towards our current residential architecture assumed that the house would be demolished.
design,” and accordingly saw the commission for the Indeed, the 1958 house was in very poor condition,
renovation of this waterfront house on Maryland’s but the elements of its Mid-Century Modern design were
Eastern Shore as more than just another great project. He unmistakable. The main house is almost a perfect rectangle
viewed it as a great opportunity for professional growth. in plan with a wide, low-slope gable roof. A rectangular
The client, for whom Wiedemann has done projects carport with a flat roof extends to the north. Everything
varying from a high-style Beaux-Arts apartment in New is tied together by a grid of round steel columns, parallel
York to a compound of buildings in traditional vernacular heavy timber beams, and a horizontal datum—a consistent
styles at a rural Maryland estate, has a similarly expansive architectural line—set at 6 feet 8 inches above the floor
passion for all kinds of architecture. When, in 2016, he level. The south (river-facing) façade is almost all glass;
stumbled upon this derelict waterfront house for sale the datum is reflected in a transom bar between sliding

42 MID-CENTURY MAKEOVER