The other day a caller said to me that a lot of the house alteration projects on our website looked conservative? Or is called that traditional design? But he still called. Maybe not disrupting the street is what many people want, as long as inside they get a stylish light filled, family friendly home that’s space and energy efficient too. The original owners of your house would never have taken visitors to their kitchen. Modern life centres around it.
Like our favourite clothes, the 19th and 20th century houses that bring character to so much of SW London have plenty of life left in them given the right adjustments and invisible mending. But as with the sewing, this takes a lot of practice. Andrew Catto Architects pride ourselves in really knowing our Art Nouveau from our Art Deco, mid from late Victorian or Edwardian and how to build the bits that need to match so that they really match – but with ten times the energy efficiency.
So yes, we can be traditional, even conservative but modern too. It’s what many homeowners like, won’t date, keeps the neighbours and planners happy too. But that kitchen still wants big glass doors to the garden. All the houses pictured got consent for visible extensions in Conservation Areas.