One of our commercial clients has retained our architectural services for the full internal and external house refurbishment of their fine Victorian villa in Tufnell Park, North London.
The works involved the reconfiguration of the interior, the reinstatement of lost decorative features and redecorating all rooms with paint colours sourced from a Victorian palette to compliment the character of the house. To reflect the modern day requirements of our clients with a young family subtle re-planning of the bedrooms was proposed.
With clever engineering a full height basement was introduced to the refurbishment works, which added an entire new floor to the house. A low-engineered foundation solution is used to form the basement which avoids the need for costly underpinning which would have been required to the perimeter of the entire house. As such the original footing therefore remains untouched and avoids raising the concerns of the neighbours. The additional basement floor area provides a perfect playroom for the children with natural light to the basement provided by new two new oval windows inserted into the building fabric. Dedicated plant rooms and building services are also accommodated in the basement, which avoids compromising the layout and function of the upper floors of the house.
The proposed reconfiguration involved relocating the master bedroom to the front of the house, which simply was a larger room and benefitted from a bright South facing aspect. One of the walls to the new master bedroom conceals a secret door, which pivots to reveal an ensuite shower room. The children’s bedroom, on the same floor, is separated from the master bedroom by a walk-in dressing room and a dedicated laundry room. Providing the laundry room on the first floor landing, nearer the bedrooms, makes the task if gathering and washing laundry just a little bit easier.
A further two additional bedrooms, and an office, are provided to the top of house with a new bathroom added to one of the bedrooms which is located underneath the mansard roof construction to the front of the roof. To the existing rear outrigger a dedicated guest suite has been provided with its own bathroom. This self-contained suite will be used for guests or an au pair.
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