A new chapter for Hackney’s historic almshouses
Fri 05 Jul 2019
We’re very proud to announce the completion of our latest residential project: the full refurbishment of the Bishop Wood’s Almshouses in Hackney.
Working with our client Noble House Properties we have refurbished and restored five historic almshouses on Lower Clapton Road, the heart of one London’s ancient ‘villages’.
This beautiful collection of Grade II listed buildings includes what’s been called ‘Britain’s smallest chapel’. The design dates originally to the late 1600s and has been home to people of Hackney for over 400 years.
Our guiding philosophy for the scheme was to celebrate the special character of the site, and make as little change to the historic fabric of the buildings as possible. Our design works in harmony with the attractive redbrick exteriors, high pitch tiled rooves and the Gothic revival windows of the chapel. As part of our restoration we reinstated chimney stacks, repointed brickwork and landscaped the central courtyard.
The result is a development of five bright, modern one-bedroom and two two-bedroom homes, arranged in their original setting around a shared courtyard.
We created additional space in each new home with a new bedroom in the loft space, filled with natural light from conservation rooflights. In each house we have designed and installed a fresh layout, adding a bathroom, kitchen and staircase.
Of the five new homes, four include a storage area neatly tucked away within the loft space, with the fifth home in the chapel space featuring a mezzanine reception area overlooked by the stunning 19th century tracery window and situated above the open plan kitchen and living space.
We’re proud to have played our part in breathing new life into a special historic site which otherwise faced an uncertain future – previously identified as vulnerable and included on the Heritage at Risk Register.
To view our Bishop Wood’s Almshouses gallery, click here, and do contact us if you have a project you would like to discuss with us.