This newly built mansion at 7 Percy Road in Lexington has been praised for its architectural detail. It is currently available for sale for $4.6 million.

Home demolitions are nothing new in Lexington.

Dozens of houses, torn down every year, have been replaced with large trophy homes. But recently, a 47-year-old, Ranch-style house in a historic section of town was demolished, and what arose in its place was a home unlike the others.

The home – designed by a local husband-and-wife team and constructed by crew of four people – is available for sale for $4.6 million, well above the price range of most newly built homes in town. The remarkable price tag might seem more reasonable after taking a closer look at the intricate exterior and interior moldings of the 5,400-square-foot house, not to mention its custom light fixtures, hand-made mosaic, red-cedar gutters and French onyx master bathroom suite.

And unlike other houses being built by developers seeking to make a quick dollar in this hot real estate market – Lexington has long been one of the most sought-after residential addresses in the Bay State – the builder of the house did extensive research to ensure that the home was an accurate reproduction of the Colonial Revival style of some of the country’s most famous architects and a good fit for the neighborhood in which it was built.

Located off Massachusetts Avenue at 7 Percy Road, the home has been praised by local history buffs for its architectural detail.

“A lot of people who don’t know Lexington, think that this house has been there forever,” said Joann Gschwendtner, chairman of the Historic Districts Commission in Lexington.

The home was designed and constructed by the Lexington-based M.A. Thenen Co., which consists of Matthew A. Thenen and his interior designer wife Caroline. A Lexington native, Thenen, 39, approached the Historic Districts Commission in 1999 saying he was interesting in purchasing an old Ranch on Percy Road, tearing it down and building a new home.

The HDC must approve any demolition and construction project that is located within a historic district in town. In this case, the Ranch home that Thenen was eyeing was located in the Monroe Tavern Historic District, named for the nearby Monroe Tavern. The 1696 tavern served as the headquarters and hospital for the British during the Battle of Lexington, the opening clash of the American Revolution.

Before buying the property, Thenen and his wife spent a lot of time driving around the North Shore looking at historic homes. Thenen photographed homes they liked and shared them with HDC members to see which design they thought would best fit in with the neighborhood’s turn-of-the-century mansions. He also shared his ideas for a new house on the site. Once commissioners approved a general design plan, Thenen purchased the Ranch home for $625,000 in September 2000. He spent the rest of the fall and winter planning and designing the new home.

“We’re trying to really embrace the past and keep it in the design” said Thenen, explaining his company’s philosophy. Thenen said he tried to incorporate Colonial Revival details reminiscent of the designs of such architectural greats as Charles Follen McKim, William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White.

The project presented several challenges because the home is located so that it can be viewed from two different angles on Massachusetts Avenue. That means that a lot of designs wouldn’t work for the site, according to Gschwendtner, because unlike other properties, the back of this particular home could be seen from a public way. Since the back of the house could be seen, Gschwendtner said Thenen couldn’t design a plain wall with windows, but had to engineer something that would fit in with the rest of the homes in the area.

Thenen started building the house in April 2001, pulling in two other carpenters – William Wadland of Somerville and Peter Mahoney of Lexington – to help with the project. Caroline helped with the interior design. The home was completed in 14 months.

Thenen said he designed a reasonably sized home, using high-quality materials and incorporating much detail.

“My wife and I decided we didn’t want to build a monstrosity,” said Thenen. “People are tired and a little embarrassed about these huge places without detail.”

Locals have long complained that smaller homes are being torn down and replaced with large “characterless” houses that don’t exactly blend into the neighborhoods of Lexington.

Money ‘No Object’

In an attempt to curb the tear-downs and mansionization, town planners had proposed a zoning amendment aimed at restricting the size of homes being built. The amendment was rejected at Town Meeting in April after strong opposition from a coalition of developers, Realtors and property owners.

“Demolition is the major way to build in Lexington,” said Assistant Planning Director Maryann McCall-Taylor. Fifty out of 60 new houses built in Lexington each year are the result of a demolition, she said.

But the demolition and construction on Percy Road was more involved than the typical tear-down project. The HDC, for example, had to approve all the materials and colors used on the house. The result was well received by commissioners.

“I think he [Matthew Thenen] did a first-class job building the house,” said Gschwendtner. “He has great attention to architectural detail.”

The house features hardwood floors throughout and an English oak family room that Thenen refers to as the “castle room.” The vestibule has handmade mosaic. Thenen modeled the kitchen after a kitchen he had seen in one of the many Newport, R.I., mansions he visited.

The master suite includes a black walnut library and a bathroom made with French onyx. Thenen said his wife chose the French onyx, a semi-precious stone that at $100 per square foot is four times more expensive than marble.

The home has not attracted a serious buyer yet, but Thenen believes that’s because the real estate market tends to slow down in the summer, and he expects more home shoppers will emerge in the fall.

Who will buy the $4.6 million mansion?

Thenen pauses only for a few seconds before answering that the buyer will surely be someone for whom “money is no object” and “who appreciates classical style and old-world qualities that do not exist in the new-home market.”

Thenen, who years ago was a house painter before getting into high-end remodeling, has built at least two other homes in Lexington. In 1990, he built his own home on Maple Street and, in 2000, Thenen sold a home he designed and constructed on Fairbanks Road for $1.7 million.