How would we unlock the layout of this three storey terraced house, that’s only got one bedroom?
It’s recently sold, Grade II listed, in Islington, from the early 1850s, built without the large rear projections of later Victorian houses, so there’s just two rooms per floor.
On the lower ground floor they’ve knocked through an open plan kitchen diner. On the raised ground floor the rooms aren’t massive so knocking a doorway through makes sense.
Then on the top floor the back room’s a bathroom with a bedroom at the front. But there’s no more floors so that’s all the bedrooms – just one in a family house!
Islington wouldn’t let you add a mansard, so what can we do?
Sometimes it’s possible to pop a little bathroom under the roof slope above the half landing of the stairs but it doesn’t look like there’s space here.
But Islington’s policy does generally allow for some extensions at the rear, and a couple of neighbours have two-storey extensions too.
<so in Part 2 we’ll have a look at what we could do!>
So with a two-storey extension you could move the bathroom down half a floor to free up the back room as a second bedroom.
Then under the bathroom you could have a lovely working from home space opening up to the garden.
If you wanted a third bedroom you could move the a make a more formal dining area upstairs and have a kitchen diner and a bedroom below.
And, maybe extend the rear of the lower ground floor. Because it’s below the ground level, this would get caught up in Islington’s basement policy. They introduced this in response to troglodyte billionaires digging subterranean caverns, which caused all sorts of problems nearby.
So you’d need to spend £40k just on reports about water tables and suchlike, but it could be an opportunity to get a lovely dining space opening up to the garden.
So if you’d like us to unlock the layout of your property, get in touch!