House on Hampstead Heath
The living areas of this large Victorian house were poorly connected and isolated from its attractive garden backing onto Hampstead Heath. The owners considered a conservatory extension before they visited Dale Loth’s house in Camden on a London Open House day and realised that other options were possible. We pointed out that an extension would do nothing to improve the generous but poorly-lit and rarely used lower ground floor living room. Since the house was big enough for the family’s needs, we set out to improve the connection between spaces, increase natural light, and link the house better to its garden.
To make the basement bright and welcoming, we removed dividing walls, replaced the staircase with a light steel and oak one, created a tall glass block opening in the flank wall, fitted etched glass floor panels to the rear hall above, and enlarged the rear windows.
View from top of basement stair, with two-storey etched glass block window.
Steel and glass balcony along the rear of the upper ground floor, with terrace halfway down to basement level
Specially made ribbed glass panels in galvanised steel balcony with light support posts.
Slender yet durable galvanised steel staircases with aluminium grid treads link living spaces with terrace and garden
L R Blackstone writes:
We had been living for some years, rather awkwardly, in a house with a semi-basement and a raised ground floor in Hampstead. Neither floor gave us a comfortably useable space or ready access to our garden. After consulting three other architects without success, we finally found Dale Loth Architects. They were able to completely reimagine our space in a way that none of our previous advisers had envisaged. Their solution required seriously creative three-dimensional vision. It was deceptively simple and elegant. It has completely transformed the experience of living in our home. This all took place some fifteen years ago. Their solution has survived two major rearrangements of our living, dining and recreation areas seamlessly. We have no hesitation in recommending them.