Projects

The Burton-Little House has had numerous occupants over more than a century on the Bowdoin College campus. Formerly the Kappa Delta Theta fraternity house (originally Delta Kappa Epsilon), it was the first house in the country designed and built for that purpose.

At the heart of campus and offering plenty of space, the house was ideal for a new admissions office. But first it was in need of a head-to-toe renovation by Ouellet Construction.

Reconfiguring all three stories from bedrooms to office space required a complete interior gut-out. The second floor was stripped to the studs. New stair towers, an elevator and a public restrooms were added.

Ouellet took painstaking care to preserve all of the original finish details on the first floor, including banisters, coffered ceilings, mantles and moldings. The upgrade of mechanical and electrical systems, including a new chilled pipe air conditioning system, necessitated routing everything through wall cavities—often via the second floor—in order to preserve the integrity of the first floor woodwork.

The exterior renovation required repair to the foundation, as well as recreating several column capitals. Vinyl siding was removed and replaced with wood clapboards. Throughout the project Ouellet worked from original photographs to recreate details that had been lost, restoring the Burton-Little house to its original grandeur on its 100th anniversary.