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Willow House

Letts Wheeler, Cambridge, 2003

 

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From the south, the later stair tower at the west end and extension remodeled as a sitting room 

Martine Hamilton Knight (website)     Download Original

  • From the south, the later stair tower at the west end and extension remodeled as a sitting room    
  • The south facade    
  • The front mixes strip windows with sash proportions. The former garage is now a gym    
  • The dining area with new opening to the kitchen    
  • The living area with stairs to an internal balcony    
  • Living space with reinstated fireplace, new radiator and, at upper level, the only remaining original window framing    
  • The view from within the sitting room    
  • Ground floor    
  • 1st floor plan    
  • 2nd floor plan    
  • Short section    
  • Long section    
  • Original ground floor plan    
  • Original floor plan    
  • Original second floor plan    

Restoration, alteration and extension of a Grade II listed modernist house in Cambridge built in 1932, by George Checkley

Organisationally, the architect has reshaped the lounge extension to be more in keeping with the original house’s fenestration. They removed storeroom walls to open up space within the kitchen and made a large opening through to the living space where there had only been a hatch, whilst reopening the kitchen to the garden by glazing what had originally been a porch.

The smallest bedroom, little more than a box room, has been converted into a second bathroom. The garage has been converted to a gym with a new entrance door and new glazing to the west; a new, larger detached garage has been built. Externally, there is a new pool and terrace within an existing beech hedge to the west, and new paving and gate to the front.

The biggest change has been to overclad the house in insulated render, and in the process complete the renewal of steel doors and windows and aluminium sills. This overcladding simultaneously protects the fame and masonry from the weather and raises the poor thermal standards of the envelope, integrating too with the installation of new damp proof course and damp proof membrane.

Data

  • Begun: Nov 2002
  • Completed: Apr 2003
  • Sector: House
  • Total cost: £278,693
  • Tender date: Sep 2002
  • Procurement: JCT Minor Building Works 1998
  • Address: Willow House, Conduit Head Road, Cambridge, CB3 0EY, United Kingdom

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