Architecture Wednesday: East London Renovated Victorian

This week we have a grand Victorian townhouse on Fremont street in London: a peaceful, horseshoe-shaped one way street in Hackney. The nineteenth century design provides peace and privacy within an otherwise bustling area of fashionable East London. Decorative iron railings and border stone steps lead to a wooden paneled front door with elegant pilasters and cornice. 

The entrance hall is typically Victorian with its vista of long wooden staircases and a neat sash window in the downstairs lavatory; there are reclaimed floorboards and the walls and woodwork have been painted with a range of soothing tones. Reproduction radiators in a Victorian style have been fitted throughout the house, along with antique finished light switches and power outlets set on period oak pattresses.

The ground floor has a double-bay living room with a built-in library and office at the rear, paneled in oak with ox-blood red leather floors. In the central bay of the living area is a red marble fireplace with a stone hearth and brass fender. To maintain the Victorian nature of the living suite, a wooden cabinet for a large screen TV has been built into the front bay. Also on the ground floor is a bathroom, fitted with bespoke cabinetry and decorated with a blue and white striped wallpaper. 

The lower ground floor has a Plain English kitchen painted in a neutral palette with stone flooring, a gas AGA and an electric stove finished with a Moroccan tile backsplash, and underfloor heating; there is also a wine cellar off the kitchen. Adjoining the kitchen, in an open plan, is the dining room, with a unique metal wood burning stove and double-glazed doors leading to the back garden.

On the first floor, overlooking the street, is the spacious master bedroom, with an ornate fireplace and two large windows; adjoining is a whimsical en-suite bathroom papered in a romantic Anna French Blue Toile wallpaper. The room has cozy underfloor heating, a deep freestanding roll top bath with an elegant antique shower and circular rail. Joining the en-suite and the bedroom is a dressing room with fitted wardrobes. 

At the rear of the first floor is the family bathroom, decorated in a muted green color palette with an original iron fireplace and a deep freestanding copper bath. On the landing outside the bath is another set of functional, fitted cupboards, adding to the plentiful storage in the house. 

On the second floor are two bedrooms. The front bedroom is painted in a fresh white tone with a panel-boarded ceiling, a pair of sash windows and another iron fireplace with a tiled hearth. In the second bedroom William Morris’s ‘Garden Tulip’ print has been used to paper the entire room.

This city house is lucky enough to have a private garden with a little selection of mature trees and shrubs overhanging wooden decking and a set of steps. Victoria Park and London Fields are both a five-minute walk from the house. Weekend markets take place at Victoria Park and Broadway Market and some of London’s most exciting restaurants are within easy reach.

As always click to emBIGGERate ...

The Spaces

Architecture Wednesday: Weird Wild Philly Home

I love the idea of living in a house that used to be “something else.” I mean, a barn turned t=into a home? Sign me up. A blacksmith shop turned into a home? Get me that mortgage. An old Victorian in Philly? Yes, ma’am, Maddie, come to tea …., and by tea I mean gin.

But this home—three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 3,800 square feet—in Philadelphia, used to be a Victorian house and a barn and a Blacksmith shop, I kid you not, and now it’s Victorian and rustic and kind of Art Deco and a bit castle- and barn-like.

Unassuming from the street, you might wonder what lies behind the Art Deco-inspired wall of cascading colorful flowers. The door opens and you get your first peek at the entry gardens and realize, Who needs a McMansion when you can have all of this?

This is the unexpected blending of a 1877 blacksmith’s shop, a renovated stone barn with a Frank Weiss-designed glass atrium, and Victorian home full of stately splendor tucked within lush grounds that rival the most spectacular gardens.

The former blacksmith’s shop has been outfitted for the most modern-day use: a state-of-the-art two-car garage with polymer flooring, a new electrical system including garage doors controlled by an app, plenty of storage, and the ability to install a car lift for a third car.

The barn and house have been combined to create the most exquisite 3,800 square feet of living quarters with an Art Deco connection installed in the 1970s that adds visual interest and light as well as merging the two buildings into a single home.

A foyer of warm wood leads to the sunny two-story atrium with flagstone flooring and a custom Deco bar. You enter the formal living room, its stainless steel and antique brass hooded gas fireplace and cozy sunken seating area invite you to have a seat and a cock-a-tale and relax on a cozy winter evening in front of the fire. There are the original stone walls of the barn and a coffered ceiling, with a  floating staircase to the primary suite.

Custom double doors from the foyer lead to the Chinese garden enclosed with cedar walls and timed antique lighting, the perfect spot for a morning cup of coffee. The dining room features a wall of windows overlooking the garden and seating for 12. Down a short hallway of exposed brick and skylights, is the tidy and practical kitchen featuring flat panel European-style cabinetry, a Subzero refrigerator, and an island for food preparation and gathering. 

The original walnut staircase separates the kitchen from the Victorian sitting room-breakfast room with a decorative fireplace and built-in bookshelves, and also leads upstairs to a bedroom, a bathroom and a loft space above the dining room that also has views to the garden.

In the main living area, you head upstairs to the primary bedroom; a true sanctuary, featuring skylights, a wood plank ceiling, and a striking curved gas fireplace. There are custom floor-to-ceiling closets and an open spa-like bathroom featuring a Kohler steam shower, Italian marble counters, a sunken soaking tub with custom German fixtures, glass-tiled floors, and a separate, private water closet fit for a king or a queen with a Toto toilet-bidet with heated seat and a TV. 

A kitchenette with built-in Brew Café coffee maker, a Subzero refrigerator, and a Fisher and Paykel dishwasher gives staying in for the night a whole new meaning while up another flight of stairs is the luxurious Swedish dry sauna rounds out the suite.

As for the grounds; pastoral and private, the courtyard is completely enclosed and beautifully manicured. The perennial gardens are what dreams are made of, while flagstone patios offer space for entertaining and sculptures add visual interest. It really doesn’t get better than this.

Plunk down $2.5M and it’s all yours.

To really see the house click here for a Virtual Tour

Dwell