Apartment Therapy San Francisco | 2009 Southern Home Awards: Best Before & After Project

2009 Southern Home Awards: Best Before & After Project

A home in Beaufort, South Carolina won the Best Before & After Southern Home Award for 2009. It has been completely renovated by its owners, Michael and Jane Frederick, who are both architects. After they purchased the property they planned on leveling the old metal hut and building something new, but the structure meant a lot to the local community. It was built by a World War II veteran. The corrugated metal was made in Quonset Point, Rhode Island (hence the name quonset hut). The huts were manufactured so they could be easily put together by unskilled workers/soldiers. Check out what Michael and Jane did to their "hut" after the jump...

Over the years the hut was modified and transformed depending on what worked for its owners at the time. When Michael and Jane bought the home it contained three bedrooms, a small kitchen, a great room, and two baths. They kept the main structure with the vaulted ceilings. It proved to be a great architectural element that is now their dining room. The high ceilings allowed for the built-in bookshelves. They also built an addition that is a sunny porch with the views of the beautiful landscape surrounding the house.

Visit the Southern Living website for more pictures and the full story behind the renovation of the house.

(Images: Southern Living)

Comments (5)

The text and pictures are arranged somewhat confusingly. It would have been better if there could have been equal sized pictures of "before and after" that told the narrative a little more clearly.

It's an interesting story because many people may no longer know what a quonset hut looked like. People who do know what a quonset hut is may simply be unaware that gradually they have disappeared from the landscape. They were ubiquitous graduate student housing at state universities during the first twenty years after WW II. I've always heard that they were hellishly hot.

The couple's whose house is pictured have done a nice job with an unforgiving structure. I would have liked to known what they did about the tendency of quonset huts to become overheated, particularly in the deep South.

According to Southern Living, the house has some sort of special pine paneling native to the area. It would have been nice to have that detail more carefully pointed out, as these things give great charm to regional homes.

posted by AustinSarah on July 7th 2009 at 8:00pm
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Actually, I teach at a private school here in Texas where the art room used to be in a quonset hut, built in the 70's. I asked to have a more traditional classroom because the quonset hut is very musty and has terrible lighting. It's not hot, though. It just has a window ac unit and it stays very cool.

posted by Eliblu on July 8th 2009 at 7:15am
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I find the history of these buildings interesting. I always assumed they were just farm buildings because as a kid growing up in North Dakota, I noticed most farmsteads had a quonset. They were, and still are, commonly used as machine sheds to store large farm equipment.

posted by sodakgirl on July 8th 2009 at 11:15am
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Different pics of the same house here with resources listed at the bottom of the article.

http://www.lcweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1012&Itemid=252

posted by cheep3r5 on July 8th 2009 at 1:29pm
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the song "Stay" was recorded in a quonset hut in South Carolina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Z_hskvz1M&feature=related

posted by cmelton13 on July 8th 2009 at 2:10pm
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