Timofey Dovglyuk, a local designer and builder, has done something quite unusual at his home in West McLean. He chose to completely restore the modest clapboard house to its original 1920s glory, rather than tear down the structure or obscure its original frame with an extensive build-out.
Dovglyuk, a Latvian immigrant, spent a little more than a year accurately restoring the house that he now lives in with his family. The home is a 1923 Sears house. Back then, this style of house was preconstructed so it could be shipped across the country on a train and then assembled on site.
“This was one of the first houses built when the subdivision West McLean was built,” said Dovglyuk. “In this neighborhood, a lot of times people come in and tear it down because that is cheaper,” Dovglyuk said. Up and down Spring Vale Avenue, where the Sears home is located, the houses are a diverse collection of shapes and styles, reflecting the renovation the neighborhood has undergone over the years.
Carole Herrick, with the McLean Historical Society, said that there are few historically significant properties left in the area and even fewer that are being returned to their original state. “There’s not much left in McLean. Most have been taken away. For some reason McLean never got into preserving homes, usually it’s only the bigger ones,” said Herrick. “I don’t think there will be a [preservation] resurgence here, considering the real estate market,” Herrick said.
Most of the Sears homes, according to Herrick, were located across from the Salona house off Dolley Madison Boulevard. “That whole area was Sears homes, but again, they’ve all been added onto,” said Herrick.
“In Latvia we don’t tear things down. These things have roots,” said Dovglyuk. Ever since restoring his McLean home, Dovglyuk has found himself doing restorative work around the region. The name of his company, Rigadom LLC, pays homage to his own roots and the building traditions he learned from his forefathers. Riga is the capital of Latvia, and “dom” means house in his native language.
His intensive renovation included custom millwork to ensure that the trim inside and out of the house matched the original pieces. To accomplish this, modern wood sizes had to be cut down to fit old standards. “We basically used the old method to rebuild it,” said Dovglyuk.
He studied architecture at the University of Virginia, where, he says, students were taught to respect trees and old structures. His dedication to preservation led Dovglyuk to even keep the original 1920s chicken coop in the back yard. “There are no chickens in it now. Rabbits live there,” said Dovglyuk of the shingled structure. “I think it may be the last original one in McLean.”
Chicken coop aficionado’s are more jealous of the coop than the carefully rebuilt home. Laura Nichols, who raises chicken and sells the eggs in Great falls, said, “I would die to have one of those. There are no old coops around anymore.”
Admirers of the home have been known to stop by unannounced and tell the couple how happy they are with the renovation. “The gentleman whose uncle built it stops by to see it all the time,” said Dovglyuk. “He remembers it and says we’ve done a great job.”