Lawrence — Garden District, Montgomery

The Lawrence House · Renovation and short-term rental · Completed 2026

Full renovation of a historic Garden District home, converted to a furnished short-term rental.

3 bedrooms · 2 baths · sleeps 8

Historic exterior preserved
Full interior renovation
Three bedrooms, two full baths
Single-level layout
Fire pit and dining patio
Sleeps eight

Before the renovation

Lawrence project — front room before renovation, red plaster walls and original heart pine floors

Lawrence project — bathroom stripped to the studs during renovation, original tub and radiator in place

Lawrence project — front room with red paint stripped back from the plaster walls

Lawrence project — kitchen before renovation, yellow walls and painted wall cabinets

Lawrence project — original kitchen cabinets and tile countertop before renovation

Lawrence project — bathroom vanity before renovation, damaged cabinet and stained walls

Lawrence project — original bathroom fixtures and tile floor before renovation

Lawrence project — floor opened during renovation, exposing joists and water damage

Lawrence project — subfloor cut back to expose framing during structural repair

Lawrence project — hallway during renovation, floors protected and cement board staged

Lawrence project — bathroom tile going in over the tub, set to a laser line

Lawrence project — finished bathroom tile with new vanity and brass fixtures in place

The remodel, phase by phase

Lawrence. Acquisition to first guest: seven weeks.

1
Acquisition and assessment
Week 1
The Garden District does not come up often, and when it does the houses are usually spoken for before they list. This one sits steps from the Governor's Mansion, on a single level, in a neighborhood people actually walk. We bought it knowing the renovation would be shaped by what was worth keeping, and we set the scope around preservation before we set it around anything else.
2
Demolition and structure
Week 2
Restoration is as much about what stays as what goes. We took out what had failed and left alone what had not, which is slower and less satisfying than clearing a house to the studs but is the only way to finish with a home that still reads as its own age. The exterior and the street-facing character were never up for negotiation.
3
Systems
Weeks 3–4
An older home in a historic neighborhood carries older systems, and those are the parts guests never see and always feel. Running new mechanicals through a house you are trying not to alter costs more and takes longer than gutting it, and that is the trade we made deliberately. A smaller house than Rosedale took nearly as long for exactly this reason.
4
Finishes
Weeks 5–6
The finish direction was to let the house read as its own age while working like a new one. Where original material could be repaired we repaired it, and where it could not we matched rather than substituting something contemporary. The result is a house that looks like it has always been this way, which is the hardest thing to build and the easiest thing to get wrong.
5
Furnishing and staging
Week 6
Lawrence is a shorter-stay house than Rosedale, so we furnished it for evenings rather than for months. A fire pit and a patio set for outdoor dining, generous common space, and a single-level layout that keeps a group of eight together instead of splitting them across floors. The house is built around what people do after dinner.
6
Launch
Week 7
The house listed in 2026 on Airbnb, aimed at families, business travel, military and weekend groups who want to be inside a neighborhood rather than beside a highway. Being able to walk to the Governor's Mansion, and to the restaurants and shops of Old Cloverdale, is the whole argument for this address, and the listing leads with it.