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Soft touch

An architect's home gets a gentle remodeling that preserves the best of its original features.

A collection of yellowed strings dangles from the low attic rafters of the house on Lowell Street in Cambridge, falling to about nose height. Edward L. Bernays, the man known as the father of public relations, put them up when he lived here to remind himself not to stand up straight as he searched his bookshelves.

Built in the 1850s by architects Isaac Melvin and Isaiah Young, the house has had only six owners - with Bernays alone accounting for 40 years' occupancy. Still, the big Italianate home has seen some significant changes.

For starters, it was moved back from its original spot, on Brattle Street at the corner of Lowell, in the 1880s to make room for two more houses. That change meant the circular drive had to be replaced and the entry moved to the Lowell Street side, now the front. In 1893 came a two-story addition, then a veranda, then a Colonial-style vestibule. By 1911, the original stairs had been replaced and fireplaces and bathrooms added.

When local architect Lindsay Boutros-Ghali moved in with her husband, Adam Klein - he's president of the Internet search engine Askjeeves.com - only the grand public rooms remained virtually untouched. The couple's goal was to improve the home's functionality and flow without compromising its character. Boutros-Ghali's firm, Lindsay Associates of Boston, handled the project.

Today, a front door painted Chinese red greets visitors. Red, Boutros-Ghali's favorite color, reappears throughout the house. Inside the entryway, a classic staircase ascends to a sunny landing; straight ahead, down a warm, woody hallway, your eye alights on another chunk of red, a painting of a big, luscious tomato in the breakfast nook.

To the right of the entry hall is the living room, where a large abstract painting with blocks of red and a richly detailed red rug pull you in. To the right is the living room, where a large abstract painting with blocks of red and a richly detailed red rug pull you in.

"I used red to move your eyes through the space, and I love the humor it brings to the house," Boutros-Ghali says. caption The room's most unusual feature is a pair of corner fireplaces that frame the view of the garden. Each fireplace is wrapped in brick, and each has a large modern painting above the mantel. Three comfortable, oversize sofas are grouped around a huge coffee table that is actually an old Thai bed frame.

The mood here, as throughout the house, is casual, inviting, and warm. "This is the center of the house; we use this room every day, so it was important to make it comfortable. We put our feet up on the table and read and eat in here," Boutros-Ghali says.

Boutros-Ghali wanted better access to the outdoors, and her first thought was to remove the living room's bay window. But after consulting with the Cambridge Historical Commission, she found that the particular bay bay might be the only one left in the city of this its period and style. So she simply added a pair of French doors to the bay, lowering the sill of the center window and adding windows on either side. In summer, there's a clear view of the flowers and lawn surrounding the new terrace of fieldstone and bluestone.

Collections from their travels and sentimental pieces stand side by side in this room. There's the antique applewood table that belonged to her mother and a camel saddle from Adam's Klein's father, a souvenir of wartime North Africa. A bank of bookshelves holds pottery, glass, and miniature paintings, adding color and texture to what could have been a too-white corner of the room. On the back wall, a combination bookcase and bar holds bottles and glasses.

When entertaining, the couple moves to the dining room, an elegant space with mint-green padded-silk walls. In a bay window, an antique Pennsylvania Dutch wedding chest holds plants and a little bronze bust by French sculptor Philippe Hiquily. Boutros-Ghali's own art, three charcoals of drummers, hangs on the walls. Linen cafe curtains screen the lower half of the bay window, which is framed with silk draperies.

The kitchen is a simple work space, with hardwood floors, celadon-stained cabinetry, cool stone counter tops, and stainless-steel appliances. There's a cozy pantry off to the side and a breakfast nook for two overlooking the garden.

On the second floor are two guest rooms and a master bedroom and bath suite, a simply furnished space with a subdued palette of toast, beige, and cream in linen and silk fabrics. Boutros-Ghali removed the ornate fireplace mantels here, to maintain a clean visual line. "I wanted to hover in a different zone," she says. "I wanted a peaceful, calm bedroom."

The master bath has hardwood floors, white woodwork, and white wall tile - American Olean, "like you grew up with in the '50s," says Boutros-Ghali, who did not want this or any room to look "designed." "This is like that little black dress every woman has - it's not about the price of materials, it's the properties of the things that make the difference," she says, noting the modest surround of marble on the wood-enclosed tub. "I learned a lot looking at maid's quarters in old houses to see how materials are used in simpler ways. I tell my clients to choose wisely where to put materials," she says.

Up a tiny, narrow, twisting staircase there's another little guest room, then Boutros-Ghali's art studio, and finally the hexagon-shaped cupola. It's a fitting cap for this house, an enchanting glass box with a computer and a phone on a little glass desk that seems to float in space; the perfect perch for a private chat or for, as Boutros-Ghali puts it, "head time."