Thomas Greatorex & Sons
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Hearse exiting the building
Evans Vettori (website) Download Original
Inconspicuous extension for a funeral directors, function is kept discrete in form and appearance
An expanding funeral directors business needed a hearse garage, workshop space and more offices. The site overlooks a brook and has views to the nearby church. The new building replaces a decrepit shack, and occupies the same footprint.
The design is conceived as a boat-house and expresses workshop below and offices above. Hence stone is used below, with larch cladding above. It acts as a ‘bookend’ to the funeral directors premises, and as a transition between the long metal garage and the adjacent two-storey row of cottages. The building’s use is deliberately ambiguous and discreet – most people think it is a house.
Windows and doors have been carefully positioned to respond to views and light, and to compliment the ‘ad hoc’ character of the Conservation Area. This small new addition to a historic locality makes a positive contemporary contribution and further enhances a charming mixed-use environment.
Data
- Completed: 2007
- Sector: Office
- Total cost: £127,548
- Address: Thomas Greatorex & Sons Ltd, 29 Knowleston Place, Matlock, DE4 3BU, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Evans Vettori Architects Ltd
- Project architects: Mariangela Vettori, Robert Evans
- Client: Thomas Greatorex & Sons
- Structural engineer: Erskine Hurt Engineers
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