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A wall of built-in cabinetry in the kitchen serves double duty as much-needed storage for the family and as a natural separation from the open scullery.

HK Architecture has been designing homes throughout the country for the past 16 years, since it was first founded in Naples, Florida, and its newly opened design studio in Charleston recently completed its third residential project in the Lowcountry. “MHK’s founder has expanded over the years by opening studios in other cities, and he allows each appointed studio director to be in charge of their business,” says Charleston studio director Kirsten Schoettelkotte. When she moved to the area a few years ago, she met Realtor Ruthie Ravenel, one of her first Charleston clients, by happenstance.

“MHK has a great relationship with Sotheby’s International Realty in our other office locations, so we cold-called Daniel Ravenel Sotheby’s International Realty, where Ruthie is a top real estate professional, to inquire about working together in the future,” Schoettelkotte says. “It just so happened that Ruthie and her husband, Chris Welch, had purchased land in West Ashley and needed an architect to design a home for them and their two young sons.” This serendipitous meeting was the first step in a relationship between the two women that would ultimately lead to a new family home for the Ravenel-Welch family.

Since Ravenel is part of a family that has deep roots in Charleston, going back to the early 1700s, she has a special connection to the area. She grew up in the Daniel Ravenel house downtown, a place that has been home to generations of Ravenels since it was built. “While Ruthie wanted a home that paid homage to the historic architecture of Charleston, she and Chris also are a hardworking couple that stay busy with their children and careers,” says Schoettelkotte. “It was important that we take the needs of modern living into account.”

Today, as you drive up to the newly constructed home designed by MHK and built by Pendium Group, it is framed by Spanish moss-draped live oaks and palmettos. A lush lawn gives way to the marsh on the backside of the house. The home emanates an unmistakable mid-1800s Lowcountry summer house attitude, with historically accurate architectural details on the home and its adjacent, standalone carriage house. “With a lot of marsh frontage, the home feels like it’s in the countryside, but it’s in the thick of activity right down the road,” Schoettelkotte says.

A circle driveway loops in front of the home and the carriage house, introducing the estate beyond it. The gracefully curved staircase, which was custom designed by a local artisan, welcomes visitors onto the gracious Southern porch that leads to the main level of the home. The detailed paneled porch ceiling has a historical nod but is constructed using a modern fiber cement product that won’t degrade in the salt-air marsh setting. It, along with many other exterior and interior architectural details, creates a bygone look.

“We took a tour of the area to look at architecturally significant homes,” says Schoettelkotte. “Ruthie already knew she wanted a red roof, classic round columns and a carriage house, and we were able to gather more ideas from these houses.” They replicated the Tuscan columns of Cassina Point Plantation on Edisto Island and the Daniel Cannon House in Downtown Charleston, which also provided inspiration for the red metal roof. One look at the Edward D. Bailey House in nearby Rockville, and you see the resemblance in the newly constructed home. “We were careful to get the historic proportions just right to pay homage to the Lowcountry,” Schoettelkotte adds.

She designed other exterior details to ensure the home looks like it has been on the site for hundreds of years. A patinaed thin brick foundation is set flush with the fiber cement siding of the upper levels of the home, the way it was done “back in the day.” She also changed the spacing between the laps of the siding, spacing them the way wood siding would have been applied in the mid-1800s. Functional solid shutters with shutter dogs for privacy on the lower floor and louvered shutters on the upper floor mimic historical Downtown Charleston properties. It’s these small details that tricked one interior subcontractor into thinking he was working in an older home. “The house looks so historic, he said we did a really good job renovating it. That’s exactly what we were going for,” Schoettelkotte says, laughing.

Inside, the home is filled both with architectural accents that nod to its historic location and modern amenities that work for an active family. “We designed the home for busy people, where family time is important,” Schoettelkotte says. “It is a well-used home, with features such as a home office for Ruthie so she can spend more time working from home and not away at the office.”

Ravenel had a list of requested features for the architect. “We definitely wanted accessible spaces for family and friends and a sizable dining area to host holiday dinners,” she says. “We also needed room for two young boys to play. And we got our extra-large screened porch, where we roast s’mores over the outdoor fireplace in the winter.”

The main interior living spaces—the living room, dining room and kitchen—wrap around the expansive screened porch and deck, which in turn overlook the marsh, creek and views of native greenery. “I grew up in an old home, where the kitchen is usually small,” says Ravenel. “I like to cook and was excited to have an open kitchen with beautiful cabinetry, lots of storage and a scullery.” The scullery is actually an open room that reads as a separate space, with a wall of custom cabinetry that separates it from the kitchen. Since it is connected to the garage, the family can easily shuttle groceries from the car into the scullery’s storage without having to walk through the rest of the house. A nearby laundry room makes this a hardworking space on the main level of the home in close proximity to the public living spaces and the primary suite.

The kitchen is more formally designed, with an island that extends on traditionally styled legs so it looks like a piece of furniture. It provides plenty of room for family and guests to pull up a counter stool to eat or hang out with Ravenel while she cooks.

Coffered ceilings, paneled walls and built-in shelving in the living and dining rooms elevate the classic look and make the spaces practical for the family. With views of the marsh from both rooms, there is a calmness to the whitewashed space that is warmed by touches of wood and an exposed brick fireplace. “I love that each room has its own flair,” says interior designer Sarah Callender, whom Ravenel brought in to help once the construction was complete. Since the family had moved from a smaller, single-story home, Ravenel leaned on Callender to enliven the spaces, coordinate the color flow and add the appropriate furniture to complete the look of the larger home. Her design services extended to the outdoor living spaces and front porch, in addition to the project management of the landscaping to complete the home’s curb appeal.

Special touches weave in the wow factor, such as the powder bath, which is painted an ethereal blue and accented with a traditional marble pedestal sink with brass legs and hardware. In the primary bathroom, a freestanding tub beneath the window is privy to marsh views. “The primary bathroom provides a spa-like sense of calmness,” Callender explains. “The home is what I call livable luxury; it’s beautiful yet practical enough for the kids to use it.”

The home was designed to grow with the family, according to Callender, who ensured rooms such as the attic playroom can transform as the children get older and their needs change. She designed custom built-ins and cushions for the top floor’s underutilized dormer window nooks so they became functional hubs for the children’s activities. Two nooks became custom shelves for toys, one became a desk and the other morphed into a snuggly reading bench. “I loved bringing order to this space,” says Callender, who also had a large feature wall in the room painted with chalkboard paint. She dug through the kids’ artwork and framed special pieces to hang on the playroom’s walls. “It is much more special than just purchasing art for the room. The playroom is a fun space that is practical for the kids. It’s easy to put away toys because they can see where everything goes.”

Inside and out, the design team took great care to create a home worthy of its historic setting. “All of the homes we design in our Charleston Studio look totally different,” Schoettelkotte says. “We want to give each client exactly what they ask for while respecting the sense of place where the home sits. Every detail is well thought out, from house placement to architectural elements.”

“As a real estate agent, I’m inside a lot of homes and see the best of the best,” Ravenel says. “I knew what I wanted, and the team designed that classic look with the interior modern finishes that I asked for. The home feels like it has been here for generations.” *

Dana W. Todd is a professional writer specializing in interior design, real estate, luxury homebuilding, landscape design, architecture and fine art.