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Earlier this year we built a custom garage in the historic Lake Lawsona- Ferncreek neighborhood in Orlando, Florida. Unfortunately, when the garage was first finished, we didn't get very good photos. Luckily, when we went back in April for the Lake Lawsona Garden Tour, we were able to swing by and see the garage nestled beautifully in the finished yard.
The new garage looks like it has always been in the yard
The 14'x20' garage has an overhead door that is faced to look like a traditional carriage house door
A board and batten cypress beadboard door leads off the side of the garage
Garage double hung wood window
Carriage House style overhead garage door and classic outdoor lights
The Lake Lawsona - Ferncreek Garden Tour takes place every other year, alternating annually with the Lake Eola Heights Neighborhood Garden Tour and is well worth attending. This year, we were given booth space near H. H. Dickson Azalea Park, which is a phenomenal historic natural landscape park comprised of a ravine down the middle of the neighborhood. It is a great asset that complements the lovely 1920s homes that make up the neighborhood.
"Dickson Azalea Park began as a natural stream, later named Fern Creek, in a deep ravine surrounded by native ferns, palms, and oaks. It once was a watering hole for cattle herders driving their animals south. State Senator Walter Rose (1888-1958) purchased 40 acres of land here in 1916 and platted most of it for development. He set aside five acres adjacent to the creek for a park, called Senator Rose park, which he deeded to the City of Orlando in 1924. In 1933, the Civitan Club presented the City Council with a proposal to beautify the overgrown park and asked the city to re-name it in honor of Colonel Henry Hill Dickson (1849-1935). An Orlando business pioneer and civic leader, Dickson devoted his energies to the beautification of Orlando, and was instrumental in planting azaleas throughout the city. In 1935, ground was broken for restoration of the overgrown property. Local landscape architect Mulford Foster designed the scheme for the park's plants, water features, bridges and paths, and Works Progress Adminsitration labor built the park's walls and steps. Dickson Azalea Park was designated an Orlando Historic Landmark in 1991."
One of many natural style bridges in Dickson Azalea Park in Orlando
Tree emerging from the ravive in Dickson Azalea Park Orlando
Historic Shed's most recent project was constructed in Tampa's historic Seminole Heights neighborhood to complement an interesting, and virtually unchanged Craftsman bungalow. The owners needed to replace a metal shed that had reached a state of extreme disrepair and wanted the new building to reflect the design of their home.
This Burgert Brothers photo shows the main house shortly after construction. The house looks very similar today, with the exception of the unusual roofing material that looks like an embossed roll roofing. Anyone know what it is?
The old shed had served the property for many years, but termites had eaten most of the framing, there was a dirt floor and a tree was growing through the side.
The shed, designed by Historic Shed, incorporated the low roof slope of the main house, outriggers, exposed rafter tails, siding and traditional trim.
The 14'x14' wood storage shed has a 4' deep porch with a wood deck, two wood windows, paired cypress bead board doors, and a 5-V Crimp metal roof.
The shed features paired cypress bead board doors with heavy duty hinges.
The 4' porch will provide shade for potting plants for the yard.
While we were working on the shed, we had the pleasure of working alongside guys from Redman Fence. This is the second time we've worked on a job at the same time as Redman. Very nice guys that do really nice work.
Click the images below to see a slideshow of the entire shed construction process.
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Historic Shed recently completed the construction of this custom designed gable roof storage shed to complement a historic home in the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood in Tampa, FL. The shed uses design elements from the main house such as roof slope, exposed rafter tails, eave brackets, metal 5-V crimp roof, and gable end vent to create a shed that blends seamlessly in the bungalow neighborhood. The new shed replaced a historic garage that had extensive termite damage. Since the new shed was under 150 sf, the project did not require a permit under Tampa's regulations, but did get approved by the local historic preservation office.
The new shed, designed and built by Historic Shed, uses cypress siding with the same exposure as on the main house. A salvaged wood window has the same configuration as original wood windows on the house.
The shed features paired cypress bead board carriage house style doors.
We designed what I consider our cutest shed to date (it is pink, after all) for a 1920s jerkinhead Florida bungalow with Craftsman and Tudor influences. The stucco house has a prominent chimney on the front elevation, rounded rafter tails, wonderful arched brackets supporting broad eaves, and decorative cut outriggers on the clipped gable ends. The owners contacted Historic Shed for a series of home improvement projects including building a new fence and custom gate, installing new carriage house style doors on the historic garage, and constructing a new jerkinhead shed.
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| With the exception of replacement windows at the sunporch, this romantic bungalow remains largely unaltered with many great architectural details |
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| Decorative elements on the main elevation |
The first project we undertook at the bungalow was to relocate the side fence towards the front of the property in order to increase the backyard size. As part of the fence relocation, we installed a custom cypress gate with a speakeasy door with metal grill. The arch of the gate door was designed to reflect the arched front door of the home.
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| Arched garden gate |
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| Speakeasy door detail |
The historic garage on the property was largely intact, complete with a historic screened addition on one side, but with a 1950s-era metal garage door that looked out of character on the building. Historic Shed built and installed new carriage house type doors made of cypress bead board hung with heave duty strap hinges for a more compatible historic appearance.
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| Garage with new carriage house style doors installed |
The new outbuilding project that we constructed at the home was an 8'x10' jerkinhead shed that incorporated design elements from both the main house and historic garage. The owners were exploring ideas to hide the pool pump in the backyard and had considered several options before finding our HistoricShed.com ad in a historic neighborhood newsletter. They decided that our shed styles were the perfect solution for maintaining the historic look of their property, gaining useful space, and hiding the pool pump.
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| The yard with pool equipment visible |
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| The pool equipment hidden inside the new shed |
The shed incorporated the jerkinhead roof line, rounded rafter tails and arched screen door of the main house. The dropped siding used matched the historic garage screened addition. A screened door, two screened window openings protected by batten shutters, and gable end vents were utilized to ensure that the shed and equipment had adequate ventilation.
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| Arched screen door and exposed rounded rafter tails |
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| Batten awning shutters over screened openings |
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| The shed nestled in the yard |
The owners had this to say about their new shed, "We had a large group of people visit this weekend. People who had never visited assumed the shed was original to the property; people who knew it was new were amazed that it 'looks like it's always been here!' Good job!"
To see how this shed was built, watch the slideshow on the home page of our website at www.HistoricShed.com.