House and Garden

Many of the projects we undertake, particularly on Victorian houses and earlier, involve the connection between the main living spaces and the garden. Prior to concepts of ‘modern living’ with outside dining areas and the use of the garden as a recreational space for the family, the garden, on small London houses at least, had been seen as a much more functional space for activities such as washing and drying of laundry etc.

In a typical mid-size Victorian terrace house, the living area would typically be on the upper ground floor with, at most, a balcony overlooking the garden at the rear of the house. It was the lower ground floor, where kitchen and laundry were located, that would have direct access to the space at the rear of the house with a modest door and a window or two. In many of our projects this relationship has been inverted such that the main family living spaces are at the lower ground floor level with either a glassy extension and/or generous glazed opening giving a physical and visual connectiokn with the newly landscaped garden.