Superior Construction to do Historic Restoration on Hugh Newell Jacobsen’s Trentman House

Washington DC — Superior Construction has been hired to perform historic restoration on Hugh Newell Jacobsen’s iconic Trentman House in Georgetown.

Built in 1969, modernist vanguard Trentman House was designed to be compatible with the architecture of its traditional Georgetown neighborhood. Constructed of red brick and gray slate, the house is notable for the abundance of natural light furnished by its numerous windows. The modern interior design centers around two circular three-story stair towers or silos, a paean to modernist visions of dynamism and movement.

The Society of Architectural Historians writes about Trentman House: “Modern yet respectful of its historic environment, Hugh Newell Jacobsen’s design represents an alternative to the Colonial and Federal Revival in-fill houses constructed in Georgetown well into the 1960s. In an era of Postmodernism and contextualism, the Trentman house demonstrates that a structure in the modern style can enhance a historic area as well as a building decked in architectural fragments copied from its neighbors.”

Hugh Newell Jacobsen was an internationally famous modernist architect whose clients included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bunny Mellon, Meryl Streep, and James Garner. He worked on restoring two Smithsonian museums — the preservation design of the Arts and Industries Building and the interior restoration of the Renwick Gallery. He also designed the Capitol Building’s west terrace addition as well as the Moscow residence of the US ambassador to Russia.

Although he designed structures for Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oklahoma, he was well known for his many projects in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington DC where he lived. Beginning in the early 1960s, he brought new life to 120 houses there, innovating by mixing new construction, additions, and renovations with traditional forms.

“We are honored to have been chosen to perform the restoration work of the celebrated Hugh Newell Jacobsen house,” said Daniel Steinkoler, owner of Superior Construction. “We received the contract the same day that we learned that Jacobsen died and feel called to continue in his footsteps, linking imagination, creativity, and tradition.