A Conservatory of One's Own
A Victorian-era residence in Georgetown comes alive
with a custom conservatory and interiors.
BY ROBERT PAHNKE
WASHINGTON, DC, is a hub of architectural
and home-design excellence. Whether your project
involves saving a historic building, boosting
the eco-quotient of your house, or expanding
your square footage, the resources are myriad
and close at hand.
For attorney Richard Hinds and his wife,
Pamela, expansion of their four-story Georgetown
townhouse was the order of the day, with
the goal of gaining a dining area where it would
be, for all intents and purposes, eternal spring.
“We’d been thinking about adding a conservatory
for some time,” Richard says. “While we like
to eat dinner outside, the time frame for being
able to do that without sweltering or freezing is
only a few months in the spring and fall. We
thought it would be great to have a garden room
we could use all year.” The conservatory would
also add horizontal living space to their otherwise
vertical house.
After extensive consultations with architect
George Stavropoulos, the couple launched a yearlong
project to incorporate a glass-encased conservatory
on the ground level and to dig below the
house to add a media room. The project ended up
involving a general contractor (Richard took on
this capacity), an interior designer, a landscape
architect, and a glass-building specialist as well.
It was during the exploratory phase that the
Hindses learned that most companies specializing
in conservatories are based in England,
where these structures are popular additions to
houses. Among those builders was Marston &
Langinger, which builds conservatories and
orangeries in the UK and ships them worldwide.
“I found that Marston & Langinger provided the
most flexibility because their work is all custom,”
Richard says. “They took George’s ideas and
came up with detailed construction plans using
their own custom-designed windows, doors, and
materials.” The owners were pleased with the
company’s specification of mahogany for all
wooden components as well as double-glazed
windows with true divided lights.
Stavropoulos approved the final conservatory
design, and Marston & Langinger coordinated
the shipment and six-week installation of their
glassed-in room with its bifold French doors.
Looking back on his role as general contractor,
Richard says, “I soon learned that I had undertaken
quite a lot, but when all was said and done,
I was able to get the project done and done right,
so mission accomplished.”
Pamela was enthusiastic about the technology
employed by Marston & Langinger, which
included “a state-of-the-art skylight with doubleglazed,
tinted, self-cleaning glass that, combined
with the electrically operated shades, minimizes
the heat in the summer,” she says. During the
renovation, she and her husband added a bonus
feature: a secondary door that leads to the new
lower level.
“I really like that concealed door,” says Robert
Pahnke, principal of Robert Pahnke Interiors,
who worked with the Hindses to select Paris
Ceramics limestone flooring, as well as lighting
and furnishings from various sources, including
Lewis Mittman. “I design to suit clients’ needs,”
says Pahnke, who pronounced the conservatory
“magical.” He added, “We wanted to keep it very
simple and bring the outside in and the inside
out.” With all the glass overlooking the raised garden
designed by DCA Landscape Architects, it
was easy to get the feeling of being outdoors. A
fountain designed by the landscape architects and
built by Corinthian Stoneworks & Design underscores
the serenity along the back of the residence,
which the owners say is now a much-used space.
For interior walls, “art makes any project,”
according to Pahnke, who enjoys selecting artwork
with clients. In this case, the Hindses already
had quite an art collection, including portraits by
Richard’s mother, the late Patricia Tate, whose
painting of Walter Gropius, originator of the
Bauhaus school of design, is in the National
Portrait Gallery’s collection. The couple sometimes
rotate art between their Georgetown and
Annapolis homes, bringing a painting by
Washington Color School artist Jacob Kainen
from their home in Annapolis to hang above the
loveseat in the new conservatory, for instance.
Tate’s portraits in the adjoining dining room are in
full view from every angle. A Gideon Tomaschoff
hangs above a George III fiddleback mahogany
breakfast table (circa 1790) and the George III
mahogany library armchairs (circa 1770).
“Pam and I both like Robert’s interior design
and choice of furniture, fabrics, and paint colors,”
Richard says. “They keep the light, airy feel we
wanted in the conservatory, [and they] blend well
with the English antique chairs and table that we
purchased for the conservatory before it was built.”
Like many Georgetown townhouses in which
the original flow of the floor plan is not always
optimal, the location of the Hindses’ kitchen and
dining room on the ground level meant that after
dining, guests had to retreat upstairs to the living
room and library. Now the conservatory provides
an adjoining space in which to entertain after a
meal, with overflow capacity—weather permitting—
in the brick-walled garden. “Before, the
dining room was dark [and cramped],” Pahnke
notes. “Now there’s an explosion of space.”
Chic, modern, and bright, the conservatory
redefined the Hinds residence and transformed
the way they live in a home they’ve enjoyed for
25 years. Richard says, “Our friends love the
open feel from the conservatory to the garden…
it’s a great space to entertain.” ★
