CG&S Design-Build

Rebuilding a house from memory.

It is not every day that a client asks for a brand-new home to mirror the one that stood there before. For this unique build, the original structure could not be saved, but it was important to the client to retain the footprint, scale, and feel of the home they knew.

On a new foundation, within the open frame of the house, surrounded by beams, renderings, and rooms still to come, this topping out ceremony felt extra special. It marked a milestone for the build and the homeowner, but also something closer to a return home.

With sandwiches, laughter, and a plaque inscribed the year of construction and builder, these small traditions mark larger transitions, when ideas, plans, and models become something you can touch, see, and stand inside. A house nearly ready to hold life again.

The homeowners set out to build something new. Instead, they found a 1902 Queen Anne worth carrying forward.

Long before it found its way to South Austin, the house got its start in Brady, Texas. It was moved in pieces, rebuilt beneath the trees, and arrived with its history still showing: original millwork, original windows, dark woodwork, old framing, uneven rooms, and the kind of complications that do not show up on a clean set of plans.

They had tried to buy the house once before and missed it. After moving on with plans for a new build, they changed course when the Queen Anne came back on the market.

From there, the work was about making an old house function for modern life without treating it like a blank slate. Across several phases, CG&S added storage, improved flow, repaired what needed attention, and matched new work to the details already in place.

A kitchen renovation brought in a proper pantry, utility room, china storage, wine zone, custom pot rack, Douglas fir floors, and trim matched to the original profiles. Most recently, a spare bedroom became a primary suite shaped by the existing waste line, original windows, recessed storage, antique stained-glass pocket doors, and materials chosen to sit naturally inside the house.

Not a reset.

The next version of a house that has already traveled far.