Restoration of a Victorian House in London

Spatial extensions

The project involves renovating and extending a Victorian-era house in West London, transforming it with a modern open-plan layout. The design enhances natural light throughout the interior while seamlessly integrating the home with a spacious rear courtyard for improved functionality and flow.

Spatial Layout

The common areas of the two-bedroom home are situated on the raised floor, while the private bedroom spaces are located on the ground floor. Lateral spatial extensions and strategic subdivision allow for an expanded living area, optimizing functionality for a growing family.

The existing rear courtyard is excavated and redesigned with terraces, providing the ground-floor bedrooms with direct access to the newly landscaped garden. Similarly, a small pre-existing balcony is transformed into a spacious loft, seamlessly linking the raised floor to the garden. Ceramic cobbles on the ground and a striking red handrail enhance the natural and visual continuity between the roof, garden, and understated courtyard.

Restoration Approach

The ground floor extension is clad in Accoya wood paneling, offering a sleek, contemporary contrast to the Victorian details of the upper floor. Strategically placed skylights draw natural light deep into the space, while a green roof visually connects the garden to the upper level living areas. Within the interior, the demolition of internal walls and the addition of new structural cladding enable a substantial expansion of the ground floor’s double-height spaces. This transformation creates a seamless, uninterrupted view spanning the entire length of the interior, from front to back.

Materials & Construction

Some original features of the building, including the fireplaces and roof cornices, are preserved and restored. In other areas, the plastered walls are stripped back to expose the original brickwork. New metal doors and glazed windows enhance the existing architectural elements, adding an industrial touch. The material palette emphasizes raw, elemental qualities, with solid Douglas fir planks on the floors, Carrara marble on the kitchen counters, and pink mosaic tiles in the hallways and new stairwell.