This good-sized Victorian house had a large garden that was largely unused. The original ground floor was about 2m above the garden and there was a large undercroft space, which was just used for storage. The initial idea was to lower the floor of the undercroft and give the house a whole new floor.
Project Name: St Georges House
Studio Name: Paul Archer Design
Location: London, United Kingdom
Photography: Andy Stagg
Project Budget: £580000
Completion date: 2019
This floor is at a level much better suited for access to the garden and so the connection of house and garden is far more enjoyable. To take full advantage of this we opened up a large double height space, removing a section of the original ground floor and opened this tall space to the garden with a huge frameless glass box.
Internally we put in a curving new concrete staircase, beautifully cast by our contractor on site. This brings you from the house entrance and sweeps you down to the main family/kitchen space at garden level. We cut a new light well above this stairwell, flooding it with natural light and creating a real drama as you enter the house.
Further up the house we reorganized the bathroom and bedrooms and put in an internal Juliet balcony to the light well – which allows you to look down through three floors to the family space. On the top floor we opened up the ceiling to the underside of the hipped roof. This makes a wonderful master suite with lots of height and space.
