Their Very Own Park Place Couple Add A Vintage Garage To Match 1905-Era House

Merit Award: Remodels and Additions

There wasn’t much demand for two-car garages in 1905. So it’s not surprising that the house at 1304 S. Browne didn’t have one.

But times - and needs - change. When Floyd and Beverly Lee acquired the home in 1969, one of the first issues they considered was what to do with their cars.

Two considerations stood in the way of an easy solution.

One was the compactness of their lot. The other was the uniqueness of their home, an eclectic, two-story stucco-and-shingle structure that incorporated several distinctive characteristics, including a Mission-style parapet and a semirelief arch motif on the chimney.

The garage addition was put on hold for 25 years, until Floyd’s retirement in 1994.

“My wife, a fine-arts graduate with an eye for aesthetics, insisted that the garage have the architectural features of the house,” he explained in his contest entry. “I wanted a two-car garage, even though the space was limited between the house, the neighbor’s property line and a large lava rock outcropping.

“With these restrictions in mind, we began to make sketches of the design, stake out possible locations and consider materials to be used.”

After settling on a basic lines - an elongated arch false front flanked by ornamental towers - the Lees took their ideas to architect Dan Niggermeyer, who drew up the plans.

Floyd, a former social-studies teacher, did all the carpentry.

The Inland Northwest Home Awards jurors were enthusiastic in their praise of the project.

“One of the rules of a good addition is that the resulting composition look like a single statement which was always there,” wrote Washington State University architecture professor David Wang. “This project does this very well - and indeed enhances the overall appearance of the property.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo