Historic Madison Residence
Liberty Street, Madison, Connecticut
Contractor: Gulick Design Build
Brief: Our Historic Madison Residence in Madison, Connecticut renews an 1824 Colonial by preserving the exterior envelope and original window openings while orchestrating cross-axial views and a widened upper hall for clarity, light, and flow. An extensive kitchen renovation centers around an 18-foot island while cohesive architectural detailing and strategic reframing of the home unify three wings of the residence with refined, family-ready materiality.
PROJECT NARRATIVE
Our Historic Madison Residence in Madison, Connecticut reimagines an 1824 Colonial home for a young family while honoring its historic character. The team retained the exterior envelope and original window openings, connected the basements, and showcased the 18th-century beams with cross-truss detailing. Inside, we widened the upstairs hallway, reorganized the primary suite, and established cross-axial views that align kitchen, dining, and family rooms to the landscape—calibrating proportion, circulation, and light for everyday living and entertaining.
At the heart of the home, an 18-foot kitchen island anchors family life—part cookspace, part homework table, part gathering spot. A neutral, cohesive palette ties three wings together: continuous oak flooring, blue-black cabinetry, a walnut island, Taj Mahal quartzite counters, and a white textured backsplash. French bistro–inspired lighting and reflective glass panels bring a gentle shimmer, while Armac Martin brass hardware and Emtek door sets add tactile rigor. Powder rooms carry playful wallpaper; the kids’ bath features a star-pattern tile; the primary bath balances a wood vanity with a marble top and charcoal herringbone tile.
Performance quietly underpins the architecture. The team reinforced the foundation, discreetly threaded full MEP upgrades with zoned HVAC, and replaced all windows with historically sensitive units—maximizing efficiency without disturbing the period profile. In collaboration with our client and the Gulick team in Madison, CT, the project blends craftsmanship and durability with a lived-in intimacy: traditional details restored to correct scale, modern systems concealed, and rooms tuned to host, cook, study, and exhale—today and for decades to come.