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History on a Hill

The Besse House, an Orleans landmark, is restored.

Design: BERNADETTE MACLEOD
Construction: DAVID NORMANDY
Text: SCOTT DALTON
Professional Photography: PATRICK WISEMAN

Ask virtually anyone in Orleans about the Besse House, and they will nod you in its general direction. Located on Tonset Road, this stately structure has become something of a local landmark over the past century, as three generations of the Besse family called the property home. But over those same years, the house began to show its age, and in 2003, family members reluctantly decided to part with the building, which, for many residents, had become synonymous with their name.

Michele Preston, who already owned property in Orleans, says she and her Pennsylvania-based family had more than a passing interest when the home came on the market. “We were totally aware of the house,” she says. “I had vacationed here all of my life. We owned a contemporary home and had always passed by the Besse House and wondered what it was like inside.”

The house appealed to Preston for the same reasons it had appealed to the Besse family: its antique charm, its historic features and the overall simplicity of the structure. “This is not an ostentatious house,” Preston says. “It has integrity.”

Having remodeled several homes previous to the Besse House, Preston contacted Bernadette MacLeod of Ryder & Wilcox in South Orleans, as well as builder David Normandy of Quality Cape Builders in Orleans. Preston had worked with both on previous projects and was confident of their abilities to tackle this piece of local history.

The Prestons wanted to add eight feet of space to the kitchen on the first floor and a corresponding amount of square footage to the master bedroom on the second floor. But the overall plan was to preserve the structure’s classic lines.

MacLeod says she, too, was familiar with the structure when Preston contacted her. “When the Prestons purchased the house, it was a great opportunity to work on it,” she says. “The goal was to leave the structure intact as much as possible. [Michele] was adamant about not touching the original part of the house.”

Normandy was sensitive to the history of the house, as well. As a restoration and remodeling specialist, he remained as interested as the Prestons in preserving the integrity of the home. But as he began to look more closely at the project, he soon discovered that cosmetics alone would not be enough.

“This one was a real challenge,” he says. “This one needed absolutely everything. The house was built about 1848 or 1850, and it had a full basement, which was unusual for a house at that time. It had been added onto three different times, at least.”

Thus, the relatively small expansion project ultimately became a large remodeling job. Every step of the effort uncovered a new challenge. “I had to depend on [Normandy] a lot to advise us on the structural needs of the house,” Preston says. “When you take apart an old house, you always find more than you expected.”

For example, work on a new foundation led to additional structural work to bring the house up to code. “Some of the girt beams laying on the foundation had been there for 170 years,” Normandy says, adding that the challenges continued to mount as work progressed. “There were windows that didn’t open and close, there were no flue linings in the fireplace, and we needed to improve overall energy efficiency.”

Normandy says he eventually replaced the windows, as well as the wiring, plumbing and heating systems. As it turned out, this was the first house in Orleans to have electricity, and it still had some of the original wiring.

Throughout the project, however, Preston remained focused on preserving the home’s character. Normandy notes that she sought out authentic materials at every step.

“Michele did go through some pains and went through a lot of research,” he says. “The chair of the town’s historic commission made a few visits. He said he was impressed at how hard we were trying to keep it authentic.”

To that end, Normandy re-used some of the West Barnstable bricks from the original chimney to create a new fireplace. In addition, Preston purchased a period marble mantel and soapstone facing to use on the hearth, as well as salvaged barn-wood flooring from Pennsylvania.

Back in the kitchen, Normandy stripped out the cramped quarters and opened up the space.

“The kitchen was tiny, and it was not good,” Preston says. “We took a mudroom, a kitchen and a porch and incorporated it into one space—and bumped it out eight feet.”

In fact, Normandy removed the porch from the side of the building to allow for the expansion and reattached it after the project was complete. Along the way, he added a number of classic touches.

“We found a soapstone sink in the basement that was stamped 1912 and which weighs about 400 pounds,” Normandy says, adding that he and his crew carefully brought the classic sink up from the basement, placed it in the remodeled kitchen and outfitted it with Kohler faucets, selected to maintain a historically appropriate feel.

Preston also notes that she found a refurbished antique stove, which had been converted from wood to gas, as well as a country store counter, which now serves as a kitchen island.

With the structural work complete, Preston says she can focus her efforts on the cosmetic end of the project. She says she is seeking out antiques and custom pieces that will reflect the home’s unique character.

“I think people were concerned,” she says of the original renovation efforts. “But my whole focus is to keep it simple, not to use a lot of fancy materials. I do not want to take an old, simple house and turn it into something it isn’t. During any renovation you learn a lot, and I learned a lot during this one.”

Project Overview
• Budget: $600,000
• Restore a 19th-century house
• Update wiring, plumbing and heating
• Improve energy efficiency
• Enlarge the kitchen and second-floor master bedroom
• Retain as many original features as possible

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