Case study of Georgian terrace renovation.

"Mike fittingly captured in words what we as Architects were considered during the design and renovation

of a Grade II listed property in central London, almost as if he had been through the process with us."

Anais Blehaut-director daab design

This grade II listed, classically proportioned Georgian terrace is situated amongst the private clinics of the Harley Street Conservation Area. Daab design were commissioned to re-establish the purpose for which the property was designed and used for the first 160 years of its existence; a single large family dwelling.

The building dates from the 1760’s, before the act of Union, well before the abolition of slavery, before the French Revolution, before the Battle of Trafalgar, just before the invention of the steam engine and shortly before Captain James Cook 'discovered' Australia.

Their scheme established a Heritage-led approach assembling a compact team including Archaeologist, Heritage Consultant, Structural Engineer and Energy Consultant to initiate a research, observation and survey process to quantify the challenge and identify the opportunities.

Since that long gone era of candle-light, a myriad of alterations had been layered upon its elegant form, with the building inevitably suffering the most painful and unsympathetic incisions and interventions during the 20th century. It has been updated, and yet ravaged by, the invention of electricity, the innovations of piped water and gas, central heating, cable telephones, computer networks and Wi-Fi routers. Van loads of seemingly indifferent tradespeople have punched pipes through stone landings and floors, cluttered skirtings and cornices or hurriedly surface mounted sundry plastic kit onto panelled walls.

After the building was acquired by a firm of solicitors in the 1930’s, it was further carved up into offices and self-enclosed dwellings. A basement strong room with a steel vault door was installed, ceilings were dropped, partitions were cut across delicate plaster decoration to create corridors and Georgian paved lightwells were covered to create additional bathrooms or lobbies for tenants

In their efforts to reinstate period features, much of the work undertaken by daab is now totally, and rightly, invisible as the accumulation of unsightly ephemera has been sensitively removed and the scarring painstakingly restored. The retention of original elements could then begin, with almost every surface being covered over; historic joinery, ironwork, decorative plasterwork and handsome inlaid marble fireplaces. With so many painted layers as to blur the details of their design or hide the nature of the materials beneath.

The tall folding shutters to each impressive sash window were freed and reconditioned. Huge York stone slabs were unearthed in hallways and the magnificent cantilevered central stone stair was given a facelift through a three-step poultice treatment to strip paint and draw out deep-seated staining from the surface masonry. The elaborate wrought iron balustrading was also returned to its former glory and the flowing mahogany handrails French polished.

The stairway is further rejuvenated enhanced by a contemporary intervention by mural artist Michael Dillon who has created a painting up the entire three-storey flank wall. This hugely interesting nature-inspired work changes hue from the bottom earthy tones becoming billowing sky and finally a cacophony of avian life flitting around its sunrise red summit and spilling joyfully into the top floor loo and children’s bedrooms. It is highly efficient at bringing a radically contrasting aesthetic into the house.

Daab used one of the two inelegant one-storey rear additional volumes to house their main spatial play; the introduction of a new stair. This provides an essential key connection between the original, lower ground kitchen and the new kitchen/living space on the main floor above. Here, original floorboards were discovered under cheap parquet and retained and refurbished, intricate ceiling plasterwork was reinstated and a free-standing full-height wall of high-tech kitchen installed behind dark bespoke sliding doors facing the restored original marble fireplace. Daab ingeniously avoided disrupting the original plan by accommodating a new washroom in the opposing side annexe and the resulting space bursts with scarlet when discovered behind a playful concealed door.

Arrival at the lower ground via the new top lit contemporary stair reveals an enclosed rear courtyard garden, reinstated to flood natural light into the generous space, reorganised with tucked away utility area. This cellar-cum-fumoir-cum-after-dinner lounge also contains a beautiful shrine-like wine cellar, discoverable behind the old steel vault’s 4-inch-thick steel door. Its man-handled relocation from the former strong room a few metres away took eight people. The lower ground is also lit from the central lightwell which has been restored as an open space for the first time in a hundred years. A lightweight link across it provides direct access to the York stone garden terrace from the bay of the kitchen/living space above, whilst retaining the visual impact of the rear façade going to ground as seen from it. External services on the rear elevation and those previously scattered internally were amalgamated and relocated into a plant room housed under the new stair and distributed via a single unobtrusive vertical service riser that discreetly feeds into floors and ceilings at every level.

The project is by no means lacking in contemporary features; quietly inserted contemporary bathrooms offer splashes of tiled colour once entered, bespoke joinery storage beds are stylishly designed and a ‘fairytale cottage’ inspired room divider enlivens the smaller children’s room. Wardrobes in birch ply harmonise with original pitch pine timber floors without aping their vintage, and lush red velvet fronted cupboards in the red walled children’s playroom/study provide sensuous storage. Here, as every wall accommodates either a fireplace, doors or large sash windows, Daab’s ingenious solution is to introduce a custom-made contemporary vertical radiator, perfectly sized to the wall panelling and colour matched to integrate.

A classic fanlight above the front door seems to sum up the approach here: an ornate gold enclosure housing a tubular LED bulb. Daab have achieved that delicate balance between upgrading to the needs of modern living while understanding and respecting listing requirements, heritage concerns and working to time and budget. All that together with unique expressions of the sheer joy of spaces, details and finishes - a difficult equation.

Daab’s scheme is expert surgery at the level you might receive in nearby Harley street. Rather than being left homogenized and devoid of character in the blind pursuit of youth, a series of sensitively handled interventions have taken years off the property whilst revealing its former beauty and vibrant personality. Like the very best facelift money can buy, you don’t notice it.