"Some Are Genuinely Old, Others Newly Created" — The Owners of This London Villa Worked With an Artist to Make the Walls Feel Atmospherically 'Aged'

It's the dream of anyone who buys a period property, especially one that's been unsympathetically modernized, that they find some sort of 'buried treasure' underneath those contemporary interventions.

For architect Sam Causer, those were just such the discoveries made in this grand Victorian villa in London's Blackheath, where the original character and charm of this home had been concealed by previous owners. "Decorative cornices were hidden behind plasterboard, ceilings had been covered with hardboard and timber battens, and the relationship between the principal rooms and garden had become compromised by an assortment of additions, including an unsatisfactory conservatory and garage," Sam tells us.

The project became the perfect base for Sam to explore the relationship between renovation and restoration. Authentic, original features blend with modern home additions, like the steel Fabco doors (for which Livingetc editor Hugh Metcalf voted it his project of the year at the brand's recent awards ceremony) and a new kitchen extension, in a way that never removes or overwrites the history, but builds upon it. The inherent imperfections of a historic home are exactly what make them so special for Sam.

"For us, conservation is not necessarily about preserving buildings in a fixed condition. It is about understanding their qualities and finding ways for them to continue being useful, loved and inhabited," explains Sam. "The house has an almost ruin-like quality in places, but this sits alongside warmth, generosity and considerable domestic comfort. The pleasure comes from the relationship between those seemingly contradictory qualities."

The Brief

"The original brief was surprisingly modest," shares Sam. His clients, Carol and Dave, had purchased a Victorian villa of impressive proportions. Boasting all the most enviable features typical of homes of the era, the house had generous-sized formal sitting rooms, crown molding, and gorgeous full-length windows. But for all the benefits of a period property, there are also some considerable drawbacks, too, including an awkward, disjointed layout — the primary problem in this home.

Built with the social norms of the era in mind, a Victorian home layout no longer reflects the way people live today; something Carol and Dave quickly discovered. "The kitchen was particularly small and disconnected from the sitting room and garden. Much of the domestic infrastructure remained in the basement, reflecting a period when houses of this scale were designed around a separation between family life and domestic service," explains Carol.

Despite these issues, at the beginning of the process, Carol and Dave were keen to keep the alterations to a minimum, with the exception of a new modern kitchen. However, Sam explains, "Through conversation and exploration, the project developed into a more comprehensive reorganization of the ground floor, bringing cooking, storage and everyday domestic activities together and establishing a much more generous relationship with the garden."

At the core of this project was a desire to "uncover the character of the existing house, rather than impose an entirely new identity upon it."

As much as the renovation was focused on uncovering the original character of the period property, the design was equally influenced by the history of the couple moving into the home, and the homes they'd lived in prior. "Carol and Dave have lived in several homes over more than fifty years, gradually collecting furniture, objects and artworks along the way," explains Sam. "Their approach to interiors is intuitive and personal, allowing things to find their place rather than working towards a predetermined aesthetic."

Building up a collection of pieces, both new and antique, the couple had a clear interior design style that they brought with them to this new space. It's an eclectic, collected style, with elegant details and plenty of character, which just so happened to work beautifully in this period property.

But to elevate the home even further, they chose to strip the home back to its roots, removing added coverings to reveal the history that lay beneath, "including a wonderfully distressed green finish that became the starting point for the treatment of the ground-floor interiors."

The Process

The challenge was to restore this home to its former glory, stripping back the layers of modernity and putting the original design back into the spotlight. This became the overarching theme, and informed how they approached the home. As Carol describes it, "Rather than treating these conditions simply as defects to be corrected, the project became an exercise in discovery."

Through this restoration work, they allowed the original home to lead the way for the final design. "The removal of inappropriate additions revealed the original architecture and allowed the design to develop in response," explains Dave. "Historic cornices were carefully retained and repaired, while the new architectural interventions sought to restore the generous spatial relationships that the house's original proportions suggested."

This wasn't about designing a faithful recreation of what this home would've looked like in the 1900s; it was about honoring the many lives of the property. As Sam puts it: "The intention was not to return the building to a particular moment in its history, but to allow its accumulated character to inform a new chapter in its life."

"The most significant architectural intervention was the construction of a new full-length side extension, providing the additional space needed to make the kitchen and associated domestic functions work comfortably at ground-floor level," says Sam.

Working with deVOL Kitchen, this side extension kitchen may have been a modern addition, but it was designed with the same visual language used across the entirety of the home, creating a cohesion between the original Victorian architecture and the new, contemporary additions.

"The kitchen extension was conceived as part of the architectural composition of the existing house, drawing on its material character and proportions rather than presenting itself as an entirely separate contemporary object," says Dave.

One of the most significant additions, and undoubtedly one of the standout features of the home, is the bespoke Fabco doors. The custom design was created to fit the original opening perfectly, keeping the grandness of this feature intact from the sitting room, while from the kitchen, the doors have a simpler aesthetic. A dark steel frame and aged-mirror panels bring a beautiful vintage feel to these doors, allowing them to blend in beautifully with the period architecture surrounding them.

These large doors help introduce more flow into the space, one of the major goals of this renovation. This was also what inspired the decision to remove the former conservatory, allowing for a more direct relationship between the interiors and the garden.

"These interventions are relatively modest in relation to the scale of the house," says Carol, "but they have fundamentally changed how the ground floor is experienced and inhabited."

The Design

Part of the beauty of this home is the way in which it transcends time, seamlessly blending design details of varying eras for a truly transitional style. This is an essential facet of Sam's approach when designing historic homes — instead of feeling limited or overwhelmed by the home's past, Sam chooses to embrace it.

"A historic house has always been changing," he explains. "Its architecture is the result of successive generations adapting spaces to accommodate different ways of living, and we see our work as another contribution to that continuing history."

As important as it is to honor the history of period properties, maintaining as many of the original features as possible, this should never come above designing a home that works for you. Altering and adding to your home in order to make it better reflect your lifestyle shouldn't be seen as a moral failing — it's a natural step in the lifespan of a property.

"At Blackheath, the intention was not to establish a sharp distinction between old and new, but to understand what the building already offered and where carefully considered interventions could make it more generous and comfortable," says Carol.

Sam also chose to explore the idea of authenticity within this design, looking at what the term really means, and whether authenticity can be manufactured. This is perhaps best expressed through the distressed, aged effect on the walls. Although this seems like a natural process, a product of years of abandonment and neglect, in reality, it was an entirely new addition, created with the artist John Harragan to create the illusion of an aging interior. "They are contemporary interpretations of an atmosphere discovered within the building," says Sam. "Some surfaces are genuinely old, others newly created, but together they establish a coherent sense of place."

This celebration of artistry is reflected throughout the home. An homage to the Victorian Arts and Crafts movement, this home places an emphasis on craftsmanship, materiality, and the importance of the human touch.

There is also something of a theatricality to this home, with age, color, and patina acting as the stars of the show. "The interiors are rich with distressed surfaces, deep greens, aged copper, antique mirrors, historic architectural details, and furniture accumulated over a lifetime," says Carol. This is particularly clear in the living room, where crown molding, distressed walls, and antiqued mirrors decorate the space.

But despite this element of theatricality, this was never in conflict with the essential, welcoming nature of the home. It was important for the couple that the home didn't feel pretentious or performative. "The furniture is there to be used, the dogs are welcome on the sofas, and the rooms are allowed to evolve," says Carol. "There is no sense that the architecture or interiors are too precious to be touched."

As decorative and eccentric as this space may appear, it is, at its core, a home, and was designed to be used as such.

"Perhaps the most successful element is the relationship between the kitchen, sitting room and garden," says Sam.

Considering how disjointed and awkward the layout felt when the couple first bought the property, this new sense of flow and continuity was quite the achievement. And while there were several changes that helped build this sense of connection, it was undoubtedly the bespoke Fabco doors that made the biggest impact.

Explaining the benefits these doors offered, Sam says, "It creates a new connection between rooms while sitting gently within an original curved niche. The aged mirrors reflect views of the garden through the historic sash windows, bringing light, movement and glimpses of the landscape further into the house."

Although it's a new addition, it appears completely natural against the original architecture. "It is both an architectural intervention and a theatrical device, changing the perception of space without competing with the character of the original building."

But, most crucially, what Carol and Dave wanted to create was a feeling of absolute comfort in their home. "We are interested in the idea that comfort is not simply a question of temperature, furniture or luxury, but also of feeling at ease within one's surroundings," they say. And in this home, despite the drama and the grandeur, at the core, it's a space that invites comfort.

Shop the Look

If you're interested in learning more about the architecture of your home and the homes surrounding you, our guide to understanding the differences between Edwardian, Victorian, and Georgian homes is a good place to start.

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