Restoring Heritage with a Contemporary Touch
This Grade II listed residential apartment is located in the heart of Bayswater, London. Built-in the late 1850’s, our refurbishment scheme planned to restore the original grandeur of the building's interior space alongside a touch of contemporary. The apartment is on the first floor of the Georgian Terrace, with high ceilings, and large sash windows, three of which run along the front stucco facade. The flat received numerous renovations over the last 40 years including splitting the front sash windows into two and one, one being for a bedroom the other two for the living space. Overall, this once grand entertainment space with lovely cornicing and large fireplaces was cut into cramped, cellular rooms with low ceiling heights. There laid the design opportunity.
By stripping it all back to its original features, recovering original rose ceiling elements and cornices and inserting a central smaller block to fulfil the newly desired functions the redesign is able to celebrate the high ceilings in the key spaces. Additionally, the inserted ‘block’ also provides a mezzanine area, accessed by a book ladder. The newly formed front room houses the kitchen, dining and living room which spill out on a small balcony, above the front portico. This much needed outdoor private space is accessed through the newly refurbished large floor to ceiling sash windows and overlooks a beautiful West London garden square with large plain trees.
We planned to remove a number of non-original elements of the building, such as partitions breaking up the original room volumes - damaging the historic coving and ceilings, and to recreate the original room proportions, re-establishing the historic room hierarchy. Alongside this the design reinstated the original fireplace and refurbished the pine clapper boards along the front sash windows. Towards the rear, we removed two 1970’s window additions and replaced them with a new large sash window flooding the proposed bedroom with eastern light in the morning.
In a discussion with James and Kate Thomson, they stated, "Studio 8Fold were able to help turn a vision into a reality, challenging our thinking whilst working with us to create a sense of style and space. A wholescale renovation and refurbishment that respected the grandeur of the listed building, its original features, returning a number of them, whilst creating a contemporary modern home. One that draws you in with a well designed internal layout that optimises the space. Working with Aleks and Alex on this, our second project with them, was an immense pleasure.
Conceptually, the working spaces of the apartment, such as the bathroom, storage and wardrobes were placed in an infill timber and glazed box within the greater original volume. The aim was for the finishes and detailing to match this concept by allowing the box to read as an infill rather than part of the original building’s story using colour and negative jointing.
A delicate balance of contemporary and traditional detailing creates an elegant and timeless design in this refurbished apartment for the modern-day urbanite.
