Victorian Villa

Letting in the light

Victorian Villa

Letting in the light

Our clients at Northbourne Road, a young family, wanted a home equipped for modern life, with plenty of light, a little luxury, lots of storage and places for both the adults and children to play. Their house, a beautiful Georgian villa just off Clapham Common, had not been touched for more than fifty years. The back-of-house kitchen was dark and cramped, and the garden unreachable from the main living spaces.

We flipped the layout, relocating the kitchen on the light-filled upper ground floor where it overlooks the garden and sits open plan with a spacious dining room. The extended lower ground floor is now a large space for living and entertaining, opening directly into the garden through arched Crittall windows and with a playroom tucked behind it. The whole-house refurbishment extended to custom-made storage throughout the house as well as one-off pieces in collaboration with the interior designer, Emma Ainscough, such as a bar and study desk.

Plans visualising a] pre-construction b]completed and c] furnished phases

At the rear, the new extension replaces an existing conservatory. It’s shaped by the need to avoid the roots of a protected elm tree and a planning requirement to step in a little from the boundary wall. This gives breathing space but also offered us the opportunity to create a study with up-and-over glazing that adds further separation between old and new volumes.

By insulating the existing and new external walls and replacing the windows, we significantly improved the environmental performance of the house.

“Although this project was an internal reconfiguration, the real challenge was to do with the external context. In the London Borough of Lambeth, the planners treat buildings in conservation areas like this one almost as listed structures, looking to avoid extensions that harm the massing of the original. This is where we could really add value as architects, opening up a dialogue between them and our clients, and steering the project towards planning permission.”
Alex Brooke Yazdi – Project Architect

The playroom opens off the lower-ground-floor living space. We designed it to integrate off-the-shelf storage as well as more bespoke pieces.

We wanted the joinery in the playroom to be fun now but also flexible enough to grow with the family. Built-in seating and toy storage can be adapted for books and study as the children get older.

On the lower ground floor, the living space and study overlook the garden. To the front of the house is a utility room and also a guest bedroom.

“The existing conservatory had to go. It was romantic but impractical, being cold in winter and boiling in summer. It also meant that family living was largely constrained to the basement, which we felt was a shame, given the beauty of the upper ground floor. By reversing the layout we’re now able to enjoy that space.”
Charly – Client

Our clients had a strong vision for their home, which combined a brief for modern family living with traditional styling.

We wanted to put the family’s most-used rooms in the best spaces. By bringing the kitchen upstairs to the piano nobile – the upper ground floor – we could take advantage of the room’s big proportions as well as the natural light.

By putting in larger windows on the stairs we brought even more light into the heart of the house. We also added a window seat and book storage.

The interior designer, Emma Ainscough, joined the project at the planning stage and we collaborated with her extensively during construction. The master bedroom, for example, has shaker-style joinery created by Smith and Brooke alongside soft furnishings and surface decoration by Emma.

The first-floor master suite features some luxurious touches, including a marble bathroom and a dressing room – for which we worked with the client to create boutique-style joinery which combines storage and display.

“I wanted to differentiate the spaces, staying true to the architecture of each, without creating anything jarring. Function came first, but we also thought about how we wanted each room to feel.”
Emma Ainscough – Interior Designer

The children’s rooms on the top floor feature extensive storage for toys and clothes, as well as smaller nooks to play and read. The high-quality finish is testament to the contractors, LS Modern Building.

Like many homes of its size and era, the house had a side entrance – originally for staff. We added a small infill to create a family front door with plenty of space for buggy and bike storage.

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Collaborators

Contractor: LS Modern Building
Interior Design: Emma Ainscough
Kitchen: Devol Kitchens
Photography: Kensington Leverne

Credits and References