South Boston townhouse goes from dilapidated to a show streak

“I was on Redfin every day for a year before I saw this house,” Jake Cacciapaglia said of the very run-down south Boston townhouse his family of four now call home. “The fact that there were only three published photos suggests there was hidden value,” Cacciapaglia said.

His wife, Kathryn Yee, was skeptical because they had never renovated a house. “I didn’t want anything to do with it,” she laughed. That said, once they crunched the numbers, explored the neighborhood, and learned that the park across the street was planned for a new playground, she was on board.

The couple, who moved from Dorchester, hired Owen Thomas Architecture (otarchitect.com) to redesign the house, built in the late 1800s, with a modern bent suited to the neighborhood. Cacciapaglia acted as a general contractor with his father, builder Stephen Cacciapaglia of SC Woodworks (mahomeremodeling.com). Yee oversaw every aspect of the interior. “Owen was an extremely flexible partner to work with our forces,” Cacciapaglia said.

By building over an existing hump on the first floor (originally a bathroom, now a sunny dining area), Thomas increased the living space from 1,510 to 1,830 square feet without expanding the footprint. Altering the roofline also helped, turning what was an attic with steeply sloped ceilings into a fully usable third floor. “We created a shed dormer in the front that echoes the dormer in the house next door, and raised the roof in the back so that it was almost flat,” explained the architect.

The couple imagined minimalist spaces bathed in light. “Open space and storage for boots and strollers are competing interests,” Thomas pointed out. In the end, the couple opted to push the utility, like the laundry room, upstairs and the storage to the unfinished basement. “I wanted the sightlines through the house to be unobstructed when you walk in,” Yee said.

The front door opens to a tiny tiled foyer with hooks and a bench rather than a closet. Cascading greenery on the back patio, visible through the mostly glass back wall, draws the eye through the home. Past the seating area, a white Caesarstone island anchors the kitchen with clean-lined but not overly modern cabinetry. The old bathroom boss, rebuilt with corner windows, is a dreamy dining area.

An airy staircase with a simple black-painted wooden banister leads to the second floor, where three bedrooms share a bathroom. Western afternoon light pours down the stairs, complimenting the interior glass wall of the flexible third-floor space, which serves as a living room, playroom, and office. “Knowing that part of the house receives golden hour light, I wanted it to be a space that everyone could enjoy,” Yee said. The couple’s bedroom is behind them and their bathroom door opens onto the hall, easily accessible to all.

“We’ve thought about every last square inch of this house, and it lives very well for us,” Cacciapaglia said.

Yee agreed, calling the setup effortless. “The irony is that that house I sent away is now a house we love so much.”