Renovation writes a new chapter in an apartment's history Political history permeates Wendell Mansions, a 107-year-old Beaux-Arts apartment building in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood where architect Suman Sorg recently purchased and renovated a 4,000-square-foot residence. Her unit, Apartment 1, was a former home to Gen. Chester V. Clifton, a military adviser to the Kennedy administration. Letitia Baldrige, the etiquette expert and public relations executive best known for her role as Jacqueline Kennedy's social secretary, occupied the building's top floor, Apartment 4. The architect, an area resident for more than 30 years, grew to appreciate the stately Embassy Row neighborhood when her father relocated the family from India in 1968 for a job as special adviser in education to the Indian Embassy. Our first home was the Fairfax Hotel across the street from the embassy. We lived [there] for over a year," Sorg said, recalling her family's early years in Washington. I really love the tree-lined streets and so much is within walking distance - Dupont Circle, U Street, Adams Morgan - but it's fairly quiet here. Sorg, principal of Sorg Architects, an award-winning architecture firm with offices in the District and New Delhi, has completed numerous local and international commissions, including historic preservation and adaptive-reuse projects, and was attracted to the apartment's restoration potential. "The unique challenge in renovating the apartment was accommodating modern living requirements while respecting the historic character of the home," said Sorg. She had renovated her previous home on nearby Bancroft Place and was not averse to tackling another renovation, but she had specific criteria. "Since I travel so much, I really wanted a flat and not a single-family home, and needed a large enough space for a dedicated art studio," she says. "There were three major components to this project - restoration of the main living areas and gutting several rooms to create functional spaces," said Sorg, who acted as architect, general contractor and interior designer. The kitchen hadn't been updated since the 1950s and all the bathrooms were very outdated. I also had to address the lack of central air conditioning. The spacious residence gave the architect plenty of room to achieve her goals. A minimally intrusive renovation of the living, dining and music rooms, all on the Massachusetts Avenue side of the building, kept period details, including two fireplace mantels and the original chandeliers. To brighten and modernize these rooms, original elegant wainscoting, moldings, doors and baseboards were refreshed with white paint. The old parquet and yellow pine floors were cleaned and refinished, while neutral-tone paint was applied to walls that serve as a backdrop for the architect's growing collection of the brightly hued paintings that she creates. One of the larger challenges was determining how to install the central air-conditioning system without disrupting the dwelling's period character. Traditional duct placement would have required placing [them] along the ceiling and disguising them with soffits. This would have diminished the historic character," said Sorg.