1871 HOUSE

Blackheath, London

2023 - 2025

 

Our clients from an earlier project by the sea in Broadstairs moved their London base from Greenwich to Blackheath, into a large, locally listed mid-Victorian house in the Blackheath Conservation Area. 

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Built around 1871, the four-storey house sits back from a wide, tree-lined avenue, and has a generous garden to the rear.  Inside, the large and beautifully-proportioned rooms lead off a central stair hall, but the kitchen previously (moved up from its original location in the cellar) was small and cut off from the flow through the house and garden. The interiors were painted white throughout, with very little character and no connection between any of the rooms. 

 

Developed with the client, our brief was to conserve and refurbish the whole house, creating better connections across and through it, and a new 'service wing' to the side of the ground floor, dealing with all the things originally done by servants in the cellar, including cloakroom, boot room, plant and storage. 

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Removing a chimney breast in the kitchen and creating a wide opening into the new extension substantially increased the size of the kitchen, adding a whole wall of full-height storage. On the opposite side, an opening was formed through an existing niche in the wall to the sitting/dining room, which we clad in antique mirror glass, with a discreet central double-doorway. The new layout creates an impressive "enfilade" view right through the house with minimal change to the fabric.

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Contractor: Ready for New

Engineer: Stand Consulting Engineers

Interiors: By the Client

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Photographs by Studio Sam Causer