Georgian Townhouse

Extension and refurbishment of a listed house in Hoxton. 2020

Winner: RIBA Traditional Architecture Group award 2022
Featured in the RIBA Journal in June 2021
Featured in FT House & Home April 2020

This project involved the replacement of an existing rear extension with a classical composition inspired by the Choragic Monument of Thrasyllus, which has inspired architects for centuries. Its apparent elevational symmetry is subverted by the split section behind, with a new garden room behind the left and centre bays, a green terrazzo lined shower room behind the upper sash of the right hand bay, and a map room behind the lower bay, partly below ground level. The façade is topped by two bespoke cast lead planters.

The garden room has a shallow tent-like ceiling which emphasises the centrality of the doric pilaster between the large openings. The room is daylit from above by two slot rooflights and a central circular oculus. The new fountain at the far end of the courtyard garden is visible through the French doors. This incorporates a stone basin, two further water tanks and planters.

Elsewhere, the front coal vaults were excavated and converted into a study and library with a projecting window onto the front lightwell. Lowermost of the rooms is a new wine cellar, with a concrete vaulted ceiling, brick floor and concrete shelving. We designed a new kitchen, a new dining room window with a rising shutter, and a decorative scheme for the master bedroom, and coordinated refurbishments and repairs throughout the house and front façade.

The project was featured in the RIBA Journal in June 2021 with a review by Isabelle Priest:

“And this is how this project is: compact and clever. It maximises floor area and uses by neatly and cleverly overlapping spaces. They are too dense to be original in what would have been essentially a speculatively built house, but they are charming enough to feel authentic in spirit and tone, and have that Soanian eccentric conversion element to them too. There certainly isn’t any looming question that the style might not be appropriate.”