Hadro House award-winning custom modern home in Haddonfield NJ at dusk — recyclable textured steel siding, warm wood pivot entry door, glowing windows, wooded site, AIA New Jersey Merit Award, J Reinert Architecture

HADRO HOUSE

Haddonfield, New Jersey

2024 AIA New Jersey Design Merit Award · Forbes Top 200 Residential Architects in America, 2025 · Forbes Best-in-State, New Jersey, 2025

Haddonfield protects its history because history is valuable. Hadro House was designed to show that thoughtful contemporary architecture can be valuable, too.

Before photo of the original 1948 mid-century modern home on the Hadro House site in Haddonfield NJ, with Philippine mahogany siding later salvaged and reused as interior ceilings

The plan was to reuse the bones of the existing 1948 mid-century home. A leaking oil tank ended that — but not the house's story. Its mahogany siding was too good to lose, and it never left the property.

Hadrosaurus foulkii Leidy Site National Historic Landmark marker in Haddonfield NJ, steps from Hadro House — site of the 1858 discovery of the most complete dinosaur skeleton then known

Steps away, in 1858, an amateur paleontologist unearthed the most complete dinosaur skeleton the world had ever seen — bone after bone after bone. Every design decision began with the wonder of that discovery.

Aerial drone photo of Hadro House in Haddonfield NJ showing discrete cubic volumes with flat roofs scattered across a wooded sloping site above a stream, contemporary home among traditional neighbors

Discrete volumes distributed across the site one after another, like scattered vertebrae — bound by a connective "ligament" of circulation. The parti isn't a metaphor applied to the house. It is the house.

Living room of Hadro House in Haddonfield NJ with ceiling of Philippine mahogany siding salvaged from the original 1948 home, clerestory windows, and north-facing glass walls to the forest

The ceiling is the original house. Salvaged mahogany siding from the 1948 home now warms the main living space — continuity you can stand under.

Three-sided gas fireplace at Hadro House in Haddonfield NJ dividing dining and living spaces without closing them, with corner glass walls facing the wooded stream bank

A three-sided fireplace separates living from dining without closing either. Not a focal point — a subtle divider that gives warmth and character, visible from every seat.

Sculptural CNC-fabricated stair railing at Hadro House in Haddonfield NJ, part of a Universal Design plan with level thresholds and single-floor essential living for aging in place

Essential living happens on one level, through level thresholds and generous openings. Universal Design, carried down to the craft of CNC-cut railings fabricated with scant waste — future-proofing that reads as sculpture.

Rear deck of Hadro House in Haddonfield NJ overlooking a stream bank planted with native species including ferns, flat roofs draining to a dry well to protect the slope from erosion

Flat roofs collect rainwater and feed a dry well; the bank below is planted with natives — including ferns, one of the only living plants that grew when the Hadrosaurus did.

Street view in Haddonfield NJ showing Hadro House, a contemporary custom home, in context with traditional brick colonial neighbors — a neighborhood timeline of architectural styles

The neighborhood is a timeline of architectural styles, each one expressing the values of its moment. Hadro House writes the current entry.

Haddonfield is a colonial town that rightly protects its historic homes. But a community that only preserves its past leaves a void where its present should be.

Hadro House was designed as this generation’s contribution to the timeline—a home that honors an 80-million-year legacy, supports a family’s next chapter beside their grandchildren, and challenges what we mean when we call something valuable.

The pre-purchase site analysis, the underground oil tank that changed everything, meeting notes, sketches, construction, and the full gallery

Explore the Hadro House Project Story →