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ArchDC Spring 2017.qxp_Spring 2017 2/22/17 2:55 PM Page 83

Project: Fifth & S House,
Washington, DC
Architects/Designers/Contractors: Colleen Gove Healey,
Jonathan Healey
Structural Engineers: Neubauer Consulting Engineers

Photo © Sheryl Barnes TTR Sothebys Living/dining area of the Photo © Sheryl Barnes TTR Sothebys
Fifth and S House.

Linking Parts to Make most of the architecture credit to his wife. “Colleen was lead here;
a Better Whole she drove the vision and kept track of the budget.” They both
agreed it was Jonathan who made sure Colleen’s vision was execut-
“This was the ninth offer we made trying to buy a house,” said ed. After about seven months of renovation, they moved in. “It
Colleen Gove Healey who, with her husband, Jonathan Healey— was livable, but just,” Jonathan recalled, and they were still doing
both newly minted architects at the time—purchased the property finishing touches several years later.
At some time in the past, a one-story “hyphen” had been built
in 2009. “It was a difficult market, we were on a budget, and we
knew we wanted something that needed some elbow grease.” The to link the carriage house to the original house. The couple demol-
ished the crumbling connector and attached the carriage building
Healeys credit their real estate agent, Sheryl Barnes, with helping
to the main house via a long hall running the length of the second
them figure out the financing.
The object of their sweat equity was a small, dark, wood- floor. Now on the ground level of the old carriage structure is a
frame house constructed in 1864. Colleen, now a principal with 375-square-foot in-law suite and above that in the main house is a
McInturff Architects, explained that the house was in very bad third bedroom.
To capture an additional slice of green space and the natural
condition, “but we could roll the renovation costs into our mort-
gage, and best of all it was semi-detached—we knew with a semi- light flooding in from generous skylights and windows that reach
to the floor. When they started to dig into the side wall they quickly
detached structure we could somehow get air and light into it.”
The house was only 14 feet wide, but it was a mere two blocks discovered that the entry had been in that location when the house
from the Metro, and it was set well back from the street, giving was originally built.
them a front garden—a luxury for a small budget in the city. Two elements dominate the interior: an oversized stair that
Another bonus was the shell of an old carriage house at the rear of feels like a surprisingly grand gesture in the 1,700-square-foot
the property that they could incorporate into their living space. house, and the natural light flooding in from windows that reach
“We wanted a house for the dog and kids still to come,” said to the floor and generous skylights. “It was our one piece of opu-
Colleen, but starting out it was just the two of them and a posse of lence,” said Colleen, speaking of the stair. “It’s a big vertical con-
friends who pitched in to make the place habitable. Jonathan, who nection in a double-height space and we use it in so many ways.”
teaches at George Washington University’s Corcoran School of Their young daughter liked to read in the stairway window that
Arts and Design and is the design director of a tech company, gave overlooks the side courtyard and sit on the bottom step that peeks
out into the kitchen while putting on her shoes.

MAKING ROOM 83