Year: 1998
Contract value: £ 700,000

This Nash house is a grade II* listed building in Regent's Park with the Crown Estate as freeholder.

The brief required total restoration and refurbishment to make the historic building fitting for a modern lifestyle. The Client’s specific requirement was to create a space filled with as much light as possible.

The main rooms, at ground and first floors, were restored and the front and rear rooms connected together with large openings. The dining room, a side extension built later than the original house, provided the opportunity for a new glass roof-light of contemporary design inserted in the existing flat roof.

The kitchen was designed in the mews–house adjacent to the main house with direct access to the dining room. Internally, the cooking area is separated from the kitchen/eating area by a large unit clad in travertine. A large glass table is designed to be held from one end by the unit.The floor is also covered in heated travertine slabs. A dropped ceiling, suspended from the middle of the room, incorporates large openings for light fittings and an extractor fan.

The basement has been re-planned to provide a self-contained flat in the front part of the house combining a living space with a kitchenette. The kitchenette was designed within the chimney breast where the original cooking would have taken place. To the back of the house, the rear patio was covered with a new structural glass ceiling, creating a new exciting view of the light well and use of its floor space within the house. The structural glass acts as a floor at ground level for an external patio.

There are a series of bathrooms throughout the house designed with light coloured stone, marble and glass to make them airy and pleasant places to be in.

At roof level, above the staircase, a large elliptical opening was formed and covered with a glass roof-light. Under it, another elliptical opening was formed with a glass balustrade around to allow light as well as visual connection between the top floor and the rest of the house below.

This project demonstrates that, with careful planning, an appreciative client, and constructive dialogue with the various decision-making authorities, a contemporary and daring design approach can enhance an important historic building and accommodate in it the full range of modern comforts and facilities.

The scheme won the praise of English Heritage, was commended by the Crown Estate and was included in their 2001 Annual Report.