But when a pair of cosmetic disasters severely disfigured a three-story, 1894 Queen Anne in the heart of Alameda's stately Grand Street, owners Garry Knox Bennett and Sylvia Bennett decided nip/tuck wouldn't do.

It was prime time for an extreme makeover.

"Most people come to me to upgrade their systems or expand in size," says architect Italo Calpestri, who has been updating Victorians for 30 years. "And of course, 'Could we have more closets?' is the second most asked question after 'How much do you charge?'

"But in this case, the goal was a 19th century building with a 21st century structure."

Sylvia Bennett describes the result -- complete with oak floors, several closets, earthquake retrofitting, updated wiring but much more -- as "over 100 years old and fully functional at today's warp speed."

Says Garry, "There's going to be no 'something's wrong down there,' no disclosure on this house." Except maybe that the Fourth of July parade goes by every year, so "You've got to have a party," he adds.

It's fair to say there were a few of those during the 33 or so years the Bennetts lived on Grand Street.

Garry, 70, is an internationally known artist and furniture-maker, a bearded, boisterous man of imposing stature and personality of whom acquaintances typically say, "He's a, um, character, isn't he?"

Sylvia, who makes jewelry and co-wrote "Made in Oakland: The Furniture of Garry Knox Bennett," keeps his rambling commentary during a tour of the house focused on the property, one of three homes built as a country retreat for the Foster family of San Francisco.

The Bennetts became its fifth set of owners in 1970, when Garry, liking what he saw of the second floor, heard that there was a third floor with three bedrooms and a bathroom.

The Bennetts have three children, so Garry didn't need a calculator or an inspection to figure out that this house fit his family. It was around this time that he had begun the transition from painting and sculpture to furniture, and his chairs, tables and cabinets would soon become the stuff of museum exhibitions, with prices in the thousands of dollars.

He soon put sons Josh and Aaron to work with him on a large piece that he and Calpestri designed, a glass-and-redwood sun porch in the shadow of the ancient oak tree behind the house. Bennett made window escutcheons in wax, then cast them in bronze, made a mold and cast multiples in pewter. He also crafted a double-door entry from the dining room of antique glass panels.

"It's very Japanese," Bennett says. "I'm a great admirer of Japanese architecture and Korean."

"I've always felt it really fit with the house," Sylvia says. "Victorian architecture had a lot of Asian elements."

Victorian architecture did not, however, have a lot of fortifying elements. So when the Loma Prieta earthquake got Garry off the couch in 1989 to stop a treasured cabinet from toppling, the Bennetts got a scare.

"I'm standing there holding up the cabinet, and the whole house is shaking, and Al Michaels is saying, 'Something is happening here,' and all I heard was glass breaking," says Bennett, who was watching the World Series. "Because all these windows had been painted shut for 100 years, they all just broke."

The Bennetts retrofitted the chimney and fireplaces. Then, in 2003, they called in the roofers to get their now empty nest ready to sell. With their kids grown, they were spending most of their time in the sprawling apartment above Garry's studio in an Oakland warehouse.

On May 12, 2003, a three-alarm fire started on the roof, destroyed the third floor and started in on the second, where firefighters -- determined to save the Bennetts' precious collection of art and handcrafted furniture -- held the line.

The art, however, was well insured. The house was another story.

Check insurance coverage

"I really want to caution people to check their fire insurance coverage," Calpestri says. "There are several different types of policies, including replacement and code coverage, and with the cost of building and housing increasing as it has, people should also check the value of their policies as well."

"We were underinsured," Bennett says bluntly. The Bennetts briefly considered a basic restoration, which they estimated would cost $500,000. But, Sylvia says, "You can't just take a classic Victorian in the city of Alameda and Mickey Mouse it. It has to be done right."

"This is more than right," grumbles Garry. "So we owe the bank a million dollars."

The extreme makeover, directed by contractor Donny Chu of DC Construction, started in the basement with a new reinforced concrete foundation with steel beams extending all the way to the third floor. Also in the basement is a mechanical room with electronic upgrades the Bennetts hardly understand -- chiefly, a whole- house data network for cable TV, fiber-optics, phones and security.

To help future owners, they videotaped the wiring and plumbing schematics before the walls were closed.

The hydronic heating system includes on-demand hot water throughout the house. In the basement are an au pair suite and, of course, a wine cellar. The first-floor layout is much as its been through the ages, with the exception of the Garry Knox Bennett sun porch and the thoroughly modern kitchen.

"With updating Victorians, the building code is always a challenge," Calpestri says. "But you also want to maintain as much detail as you can on the outside and the inside, and reuse as many components as you can, which we did in this case with doors, trim and even floors on the lower levels."

Those that couldn't be used were remade. Chu, for instance, made new corbels like the ones that had been burned off the exterior and reproduced 14, 000 linear feet of beaded molding throughout the house.

"He'll tell you that cost me $9 a foot," Bennett says, inspecting the work.

"Nine dollars and 55 cents," Chu says with a smile.

New closets, laundry room

The four second-floor bedrooms now all have closets with shelf systems, and a laundry room between the second and third floors saves trips up and down stairs. A bathroom has been added, so there are two on the floor.

On the third floor, the 900-square-foot master retreat that has become a hallmark of 2000s design includes a double bathroom, an L-shape bedroom with kitchen hookups and a skylit studio overlooking the oak tree.

That was the space Sylvia had always dreamed of. She vows to spend a night there and soak in the huge tub before the Bennetts sell the house.

Harbor Bay Realty agents Barbara Bolton and Bill Douglas, who happily admit to having attended a few parties there, will put the house on the market at $2.2 million after Chu finishes it.

Garry boasts that the house "is in its third century now, and it's five times better than it was when it was built." Still, he confesses to some fear of the decor that's to come.

"I wouldn't mind seeing heavy, heavy antique Victorian or totally modern, " he says. "But, I don't want to see any shag carpets."

E-mail Susan Fornoff at sfornoff@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page J - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle