Scroll To View

swipe to view images

La Maison Bosque

This Creole West-Indies Raised Cottage is nestled into the back of the Traditional Neighborhood Development of Walnut Grove in Southwest Louisiana. A community built with the simple goal of timelessness and being rooted in its place … its vernacular traditions. The design of this home draws its inspiration from the colonial period of Louisiana and one of the oldest remaining residences in the state… the iconic 18th century New Orleans dwelling … the Pitot House.

In creating our rendition, we incorporated the language of A. Hays Town and the influence of vernacular progression. While the house’s entry gallery sits beside the neighborhood’s network of tree-lined sidewalks, it’s otherwise pulled back in a romantically private setting, overlooking its parterre garden. In moving around the buildings, one can see how the “additions” create a nestling of masses that appear to have been assembled over time.

In the end, la Maison Bosque is a home built for a modern family, with the expectations of contemporary living, but with all of the benefits of centuries of architectural details formed by Louisiana’s landscape, climate, and history of intense weather events. In its short time, it has already proven the value of its vernacular traditions.

Designed while practicing as the Village Architect of Walnut Grove and Principal of the Walnut Grove Design Group

Landscape Architect: Broadlands Inc.
Builder: Walnut Grove Construction
Photography: Adam Macchia

swipe to view images

Bartelmy House

This West-Indies residence is most noted for its details…the pavilion roof…turned posts over Corinthian columns … the dramatic shutter wall gracing the entry to its porch and adorned by its whimsical, custom gas lantern, offering a warm and welcoming glow to all who visit.

But Bartlemy House is more than that … it’s an anchor to a street corner in a Traditional Neighborhood Development, providing a graceful experience to drivers and pedestrians alike … it’s a bridge, as it connects multiple parts of the community together as the scale of the buildings change around it … it’s a terminus, holding the valiant position of the terminated vista of a street beyond the park, creating not only a backdrop but an icon in the distance upon arrival.

In the language of vernacular progression, one can see how the different assemblages may have come together over time. As a piece of the Louisiana landscape, it is bringing together different aspects of its cultural history, primarily as a West-Indies urban dwelling, but with elements of New Orleans’ Creole heritage and flair. Bartelmy House plays many important roles, but it’s mostly being that of home … home to its colorful and creative, loving family.

Designed while practicing as the Village Architect of Walnut Grove and Principal of the Walnut Grove Design Group.

Builder: Walnut Grove Construction
Photography: Adam Macchia

swipe to view images

Maison Coulee Mine

This grand “house with a story” sits at the back of an established neighborhood along an old coulee. In the tradition of antebellum-era homes in South Louisiana, the house fronts the waterway, while offering a gracious rear elevation to those who arrive by land. The home, reminiscent of those by A. Hays Town, is made up of multiple buildings that appear to have been constructed at different times.

The Owner’s Cottage has the primitive details of an Acadian cabin, while the Main House is executed in the more refined, but still simple, Creole tradition. A Carriage House is seemingly the final building of the compound, standing as an axial terminus as one enters the motor court, functioning as an outdoor foyer to the home.

Maison Coulee Mine’s porches serve as the outward identity of the house, with each one serving its own purpose. The porches maintain a constant, comfortable environment and make the home feel both graceful and inviting.

Landscape Architect: Walsh Landscape Architecture
Photography: Eric Roth

swipe to view images

Bridget Farmhouse

This charming, traditional American Farmhouse was created in conjunction with Our Town Plans and tells a story of how these simple, every-town mainstays often adapt over time to accommodate the ever-changing needs of the new, modern family. 

Its wrap-around front porch and large chimney immediately welcome one into a comfortable place that feels so familiar, while its infilled porch bay gives a nod of what’s to come, hinting at the changes that’ll be experienced within. Once crossing the threshold, the Living Room is opened to the home’s large kitchen, while still anchored by the expected traditional fireplace. There’s a glimpse through a transom-crowned cased opening into the dining room that now lives on the porch … in the garden … the perfect place to spend each meal. Traditional mouldings and details contrast modern amenities such as a down-stairs master suite and mud/laundry. 

The Bridget Farmhouse proves that you can actually have it all … charm, grace, timelessness and a modern lifestyle.

Interior Designer: J. E. Schram Architect
Builder: The Par Group
Photography: Adam Macchia

swipe to view images

4 Winds

Baltimore, MD

This Shingle Style residence began with the client’s love of Robert A. M. Stern’s Life Magazine Dream House. The home was originally conceived by the firm as a well-designed, yet attainable Shingle Style residence that was intended to raise the bar of builder’s houses. As stated by RAMSA, the home is a “compact shingled mass relieved by porches, shuttered windows and dormers.” To achieve the goals and expectations of the client, J. E. Schram adjusted the design, albeit, while respectfully honoring the original.

The home rests along a gentle hillside, offering a commanding view of the forward gable upon arrival, while an allée-framed series of lawn stairs gracefully connect the rear of the home to the principal green. Intended to evoke the charm and grace of an old house yet address contemporary living, a large kitchen and integrated dining space are at the heart of the home and open to a sun-drenched den. This extended area serves as the hub of daily life.

Meanwhile, the grandeur of the great room with its 14’ ceilings and open staircase offers a cozy respite by way of the inglenook for a bit of fireside reading. This space flows to the veranda via French doors, making a connection between the indoor and outdoor living areas. The home offers an elegant lifestyle and genteel humility in a single composition.

Interior Designer: Hall & Co.
 Landscape Architect: Walsh Landscape Architecture
Builder: J Paul Builders
 Photography: Erin Horton

swipe to view images

Chalet de Colibri

This bold new home exemplifies a marriage between the tradition of the English Arts & Crafts movement with the bright and airy environment of the contemporary American Farmhouse. The romantic assemblage of building massings with their simple, yet dramatic roof forms embrace the Entry Court, while the bright white masonry and contrasting windows and woodwork bring it into its current time and place.

While the front presents a more private and humbly scaled façade, the rear is expansive and filled with glazing, almost turning the home inside-out, especially in the evening when it sits as a lantern in the garden. Upon entering the front porch, one is given a glimpse of that outdoor connection with the axis through the home, but the traditional plan offers only a tease of what’s to come … discovering the rest as you pass through the home.

Chalet de Colibri is truly a traditionally-rooted home that is built for modern living. 

Interior Designer: Lauren Hurlbrink Interiors
Landscape Architect: Beechbrook Landscape Architecture
Builder: Delbert Adams Construction
Photography: Adam Macchia

On the Boards

  • New lake-side residence in the Acadian vernacular style
  • Renovation and addition to a beach residence in the Outer Banks
  • New pocket neighborhood and architecture in the Acadian vernacular style
  • New family farmhouse compound in the Dutch Colonial Revival style
  • Interior & exterior renovations to a historic Georgian estate in the mid-Atlantic
  • Interior & exterior renovations to a historic home in an Olmsted neighborhood
  • New residence in modern English Romantic style
  • New residence in a Traditional Neighborhood Development in modern English Arts & Crafts style
  • New urban-farmstead in SE Texas with a nod to the family’s Louisiana heritage
  • Interior renovations to a Federal style home in an Olmsted neighborhood
  • Complete renovation and additions to a historic Maryland farmhouse
  • McKim Mead and White-inspired renovation to a shingle-style residence in Baltimore County
  • New farmstead compound, residence and masterplan in the Creole and Acadian vernacular
  • Renovation to an American Arts & Crafts farm cottage in the Mid-west
  • Recreation of early-Art Deco in-the-sky living overlooking Baltimore Harbor
  • New modern Mid-Atlantic farmhouse outside of Baltimore
  • Modern English Arts & Crafts home in Baltimore County
  • Renovation of a historic Talbot County waterside estate
  • New creole raised-cottage in central Louisiana
  • Renovation and addition to a secluded country house in Baltimore County
  • Renovation and additions to a traditional Pennsylvania stacked-stone farmhouse
  • Additions to a historic Maryland farmhouse
  • New Shingle-Style home in New England
  • Interior renovations to a notable English Cotswold-inspired home in Baltimore
  • Additions to a historic Georgian manse in an Olmsted neighborhood
  • New Classical Revival cottage in West Virginia
  • Interior renovations and garden folly additions to a home in DC
  • Re-envision mid-century Federal-style home outside of Baltimore
  • Contemporary-industrial renovation to a historic mill-house in Baltimore City
  • New southern English Romantic waterfront home in Talbot County

The firm of J. E. Schram Architect, LLC, creates work that is timeless in nature and rooted to its place while fulfilling the lifestyle of the intended, modern user. The firm’s designs are driven by the feelings they are intended to conjure; a connection to earlier buildings and spaces while allowing creative interpretations to anchor them to their own place in history. The intent is not to recreate idyllic replications of the past, but to evoke the elegant repose of an earlier era. The firm achieves beautiful place-making through its traditionally inspired, regional architecture by connecting to vernacular traditions.

 

Everett Schram, AIA, is the president and founder of his Baltimore-based firm, J. E. Schram Architect, LLC. While growing up in South Louisiana, he was drawn to the heritage architecture that defines the area. His interest was encouraged and reinforced by traveling across the state to visit historic homes and plantations. He also spent time in homes by the esteemed A. Hays Town, which further inspired his lifelong architectural passion. Today, Everett and his family live in an Olmsted Brothers-designed neighborhood in Baltimore that epitomizes the garden city moment and Maryland’s iconic architectural styles.

Everett received his Professional Bachelor of Architecture from Louisiana Tech University. He also had the opportunity to study urban planning in London and classical architecture at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) in New York. Everett acquired a deep working knowledge of mixed-use development and the principles of New Urbanism in a range of densities, scales, and locations. Employment and mentorship followed at the Washington, DC, firm of Franck & Lohsen Architects where the values of classical architecture became the focus before Everett spent the better part of a decade as the Village Architect of Walnut Grove TND in his hometown of Lake Charles, LA. His collective professional experience not only informs his practice today, but also community-minded priorities such as serving on the Historic Homeland Architecture Review Committee and his volunteer participation (2006-09) on the boards of the ICAA Mid-Atlantic Chapter and Build DC, an organization that aims to develop the next 100-year-plan in the classical tradition for the city of Washington.

Throughout Everett’s life, he has been influenced by the simple, elegant, vernacular architecture of different regions. The Creole and Acadian buildings of his youth, the Cotswold architecture of the British countryside, the revival architecture of the mid-Atlantic, and Hays Town’s own inventive version of Louisiana vernacular all move him deeply. To Everett, there is something alluring about buildings that seem rooted to their place: it is an essence that is timeless and feels right at home where it resides.

Growing up in a large, Southern family and having a family of his own made him fully appreciate the importance of traditions – both in upholding them and appreciating their value – as an integral part of an enriched and rewarding life. He gives credence to the notion that places, smells, surroundings that look or feel a certain way, can evoke cherished memories, forever tying you to a place, wherever it may be. Creating places that feel as if they have always been there is what inspires Everett’s philosophy. To that end, Everett founded J. E. Schram Architect, LLC in 2013 to design within the context of his guiding principles.

AWARDS

  • 2023 John Russell Pope Award for Urban Design
    The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art WMA Chapter

  • 2023 Home & Design Awards
    Outdoor Living, Speciality Room, & Design/Build
    Baltimore Magazine

PRESS

“Sometimes it’s the beautiful little things you come across during the course of a day that make the whole thing better.”

follow us on instagram

Please contact Everett Schram with inquiries.

divider

J. E. Schram Architect

5 St. Dunstan’s Garth, Baltimore MD 21212

443 708-2412everett@jeschram.comFollow us on instagram