Period property extensions: how to blend old and new
Enhance the special character of an old home with a beautifully designed extension
Extending a period property should enhance, not compromise, its original character. Find out how these architects approach modern extensions to old buildings.
Image: Scott Donald Architecture extended and remodelled Frog Castle, a grand period property in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, providing maximum contrast between old and new with an extensively glazed addition. Photo: Daniel Hopkinson
Most owners of a period property wish to retain its character and original features, but the layout of older homes rarely satisfies our modern desire for large multifunctional spaces.
The high cost of buying a new house means that it’s often better value – and less disruptive overall – to extend. However, when creatig an extension to a period property, it’s crucial to create careful balance of old and new.
A defined difference
Image: This muted oak and zinc extension, created by Studio Carver for an Edwardian home in London, offers subtle contrast to the stock brick of the house, while the windows draw exaggerated reference from the existing sash windows. Photo: Richard Chivers
Heritage specialists have a preference for a clear distinction between the original and the modern. Using the same materials in a similar style can create visual confusion. This doesn’t mean you have to go with the ultimate contrast – a frameless glass box – but a new extension that’s of its time helps us to ‘read’ a building better.
Nevertheless, according to planning rules, an extension can be built under permitted development only if the materials are ‘similar in appearance to the existing house’. Homeowners are, therefore, being incentivised not to make too much of a clean design break. Some local authorities seem to have a looser grasp of this rule than others; so do seek advice pre-application or employ an architect familiar with your local council’s policies.
Paying reverence
Image: This 16th century mill in Surrey had an unfortunate 1960s extension, which OB Architecture were briefed with replacing. The bronze roof was inspired by a Victorian sketch of the house, which showed a cluster of buildings with pitched roofs. Photo: Martin Gardener
Architects are masterful at finding a nuanced approach to balancing old and new, often including some reference to the original home, even though the styles may at first glance be quite different. Examples include aligning roof pitches, picking up on secondary materials (for example, utilising zinc cladding to echo lead roof flashings) or using comparable materials in a contrasting colour or pattern.
‘We identify the important historic features of the property first,’ says architect Keith Carver of Studio Carver. ‘We would never want to challenge those – we want to complement and enhance them. That might mean doing something starkly distinctive, where the new is clearly new and the old is unashamedly old. We’re often trying to rectify poor work done in the 20th century – bits that have been added on that are out of keeping. We strip back to the original house and then sympathetically add to it.’
If the style of the extension is very different to the period house it adjoins, materials can sometimes be used to unify the two – render is an obvious example, since it’s a flat uniform surface, unlike brick, where finding the correct size and matching the patina of age can be incredibly difficult.
