A Richmond Revival

In Virginia's capital, a not-so-old house gets some new-old tricks

- STEPHANIE HUNT

ASHLEY TAYLOR knew his wife's tastes well: elegant, traditional, andwhen it came to architecture-as Georgian as possible. So when he spotted the "For Sale" sign on a tree-canopied lot in Richmond's Windsor Farms neighborhood, he wasn't sure the mid-1960s redbrick house with tall, skinny columns that were tacked on like an afterthought would cut it. His wife, Gail, also loves a home that's timeless and well proportioned.

 "But when he gets a spark about something," she says, laughing, "good luck!" Fortunately, that spark had merit. The house had a strong presence and was on a desirable lot, so as any good lawyer does before making his case, Ashley did a little preemptive research, a call to Dan Ensminger, a Richmond-based architect the family had worked with previously.

After a quick drive-by viewing, Ensminger confirmed via a cocktail-napkin sketch that a few tweaks could Georgian up the facade. Reassured, Ashley made the pitch to his wife, who actually didn't need very much convincing.

"It was definitely a house I had noticed before. I loved how it sat on this shady lot with a circular drive," Gail recalls. "But it wasn't exactly living up to its potential.

You would've expected a more classic feel." It had a disjointed floor plan and dated interiors, including the kitchen's dropped ceiling with fluorescent lights. "It was very sixties and seventies-and not in a good way," she adds.

Gail says their goal was "to add back the character," which they set about doing initially with the help of Ensminger and then later with Richmond-based designer Elly Poston Cooper of Elly Poston Interiors.