This 1930’s home in a leafy suburb of Oxford, was bought by the clients in a state of some disrepair, having had only two owners since it was built. The house had suffered an unfortunate series of extensions, and the internal spaces were dark and gloomy. 

The brief to Gresford Architects was to significantly extend the living accommodation, in a manner sympathetic to the existing, beautiful art-nouveau style of the original dwelling. The key conceptual driver was to remove the cramped staircase and entrance, creating a new front door with a double height entrance hall, with a first floor landing from which all 5 bedrooms open, thus creating a space of community and accidental interactions. 

On the ground floor a new kitchen and dining area were created at the east of the house, with the dining pavilion itself extending to the rear of the house in as a more modernist space, opening up to the garden and funky 1970’s swimming pool.