How we gave a London home an Australian flavour

Mount View Road

How we gave a London home an Australian flavour


SAP Energy Rating improved from E(44) to C(69)
Depth of rear extension 9m
New basement supports multi-generational living

While the views from the front of Caroline and Alan’s Crouch End home extend far across London, both the inside space and the garden beyond felt far more restricted when we first came to this project. In this late Victorian villa, many of the ground-floor rooms were quite literally ‘below stairs’, and a more recent extension had very limited connections to the garden. With the family considering a possible move to Caroline’s native Australia, we set out to bring a flavour of her homeland to London instead.

In Alan and Caroline’s late Victorian villa, many of the ground-floor rooms were quite literally ‘below stairs’, and a more recent extension had very limited connections to the garden – which itself felt compromised. In Caroline’s native Australia, homes and gardens have a more expansive feel, and this is what we sought to create.

We moved the awkward stairs to a more natural position to one side of the hall, opening up a clear sight line to the garden from the front door. A new lightweight extension replaces the old, a timber structure faced with white cladding and durable blockwork. Wanting to optimise views, morning light and space for planting, we set its back wall at a 45-degree angle to the existing footprint. It now reaches out 9 metres from the house, masking the blank wall of the neighbouring extension and giving longer connection between inside and out. Inside, the living space now has improved flow, rooflight at its furthest point drawing the eye up and through the space. We placed the doors of the more orthogonal front reception rooms opposite one another to give more of this open quality in the original part of the house.

Like many of our clients, the family wanted to maximise the area available by digging a basement. We wanted to ensure that it would fit with their lifestyle not only now but for many years to come, so together we looked at exactly how they would use it. Currently it’s a gym, spare room and family TV room, but in the future it can easily be adapted as a self-contained flat. The inviting curved staircase ensures that it’s well utilised and very much part of the main house.