period-specific

Two years after starting work on this historic site, Jason Fragomeni looked back with pride at what he and his staff at Fragomeni Design Group had accomplished. Along that pathway to success, however, he ran into twists and turns that often had him wondering whether the project, which originated with the supposedly straightforward restoration of a 1920s-vintage swimming pool, would ever work out the way he and the homeowners hoped it would.

Restoring a Classic

It seems odd to say it, but I first became involved with this project largely because I happen to live on the same street as my clients. We all live in a beautiful, historic neighborhood in Mountain Lake, N.J., a small town that lays claim to having the largest collection of authentic Craftsman-style homes of any municipality in the United States. It’s the kind of place where residents take immense pride in the architectural splendors you see almost everywhere you turn. Most of these homes were designed and built by the legendary architect and builder