Listed Manor House
Client: Private
Location: Huntingdonshire
Cost: £250,000
Status: Complete
Category: Homes, Interiors
Photographs: Peter Landers
An extension to and refurbishment of a Grade II* listed Manor House near Huntingdon. Although the Manor house has been recorded on this site in the Domesday Book, the current building is understood to date from 1542. The house underwent extensive early 18th century alterations (circa 1720) including the addition of a brick wing and a new itlianate staircase. Late 20th century work restored and re-integrated a derelict 18th Century bake-house.
Our brief was to extend the existing kitchen at the rear of the house to increase the size of this room and improve connections with the adjacent dining and sitting rooms. A distinct contemporary extension was proposed to clearly delineate between the existing building and this modern addition. Lengthy and detailed discussions were required with both Historic England and the local authority’s conservation team to ensure that significant damage to the original fabric was avoided. We were able to secure approval for the design on the basis that the main structural opening would only remove the 19th Century additions to the bake-house.
The new extension re-orientates the layout of the kitchen to avoid the room acting as a corridor between the hall and the dining room. A glazed link physically separates the new construction from the historic fabric and brings light deeper into the plan. External glazing is lifted above the interior ceiling finishes in order to elongate the proportions of the facade and reduce the heaviness of the roof. The sliding doors and cantilevering roof open the new dining space on to the extensive gardens. Monochromatic finishes, including anthracite zinc roof cladding, reflected the palette of the original house
The works were completed by Swift Building Contractors.