Zac Monro Architects

Ashburnham Grove

This early Victorian terraced house was situated within a conservation area with Article 4 constraints slapped all over its decaying fabric. It had been empty, inhabited by rising damp and foxes until an Anglo-Belgium couple allowed us to strip the building back to its bones. The brief was to bring to it a balance between elegant London minimalism and their 5 rampant children.

It took 3 planning applications to gain permission, after which the cost of the work stalled its commencement for a further 12 months. Some very involved dialogue with specialist sub-contractors, some extremely tight Engineering around the house’s crumbling fabric and a race against the approaching financial meltdown was only just enough to ensure the completion of the uncompromised result.

The major moves all centre on creating a series of light open-plan semi-public spaces within the home that bring it in direct relation with the solace of the garden. To this end the rear of the house hovers over a structural glass extension, while a double-height space is carved out of the centre of the lower floors and a series of cantilevered folded steel stair treads bring the family together around the kitchen/dining room. The foxes don’t figure anymore.