Nunhead Terrace House, London
A Victorian terrace remodelled to
reconnect the home to the garden
Project Type:
A residential refurbishment including a ground floor extension and garden studio
Project Status:
In progress
This late nineteenth century three storey Victorian terrace house has an unusual configuration to contend with, particularly when compared with a typical Victorian terraced property of this period. The main entrance and reception rooms are on the middle raised ground floor level, and three bedrooms are contained to the top floor. A further two rooms with a small kitchen tucked into a lean-too side extension off one of these can be found on the lower ground floor. This layout meant that the day-to-day living spaces were spread over two of the three floors, whilst the bedrooms were limited to the top floor.
Great show is made of the front, with a stepped entrance portico, and a decorative bay window whilst the rear is much more utilitarian, with an existing half level outrigger extension providing the only stepped access out to the rear garden. A London butterfly roof is hidden behind a parapet - the roof hindered the client’s previous expansion proposals to extend some additional bedroom
All these factors combined meant that the existing house arrangement was not ideal for a growing family.
Existing and proposed floor plan
Two key features of the client brief were to provide a new family kitchen / dining room linking with the garden and to provide scope for additional bedroom spaces if required.
With no room to move sideways or upwards, we were tasked with utilising the existing spaces better and extending into the rear garden. Our design solution was to reconfigure the lower level ground floor and outrigger by providing a new staircase leading down to the lower ground floor that opened into a new through hallway, all at one level. This enables direct access to a new rear extension containing a family kitchen / dining room opening onto the rear garden. The addition of a shower room means that the existing lower floor rooms can function as additional bedrooms, if required whilst a small open air courtyard is formed between the new extension and the existing rear room of the main house ensuring the existing rear room achieves some direct daylight and privacy.
Overall the new lower ground floor layout greatly enhances the day to day quality and flexibility of uses for the lower ground floor rooms, providing calming spaces for an energetic family whilst opening the house up to its rear garden.
