Giving Modernist styling and 21st-century additions to this Arts and Crafts house was a risk that paid off handsomely
It’s a dilemma that many owners of period properties face at some time or another: how do you modernise without losing any of the charm or beauty of the home you originally fell in love with? Carol and Drew Grieve knew there was much to admire in their traditional Edwardian terraced house in Glasgow’s west end, yet after 20 years of living there, they were also well aware of its failings too, and they wanted to make it more suitable to their needs.
“The house was relatively untouched when we bought it, and as far as we could see it hadn’t had any major makeovers,” says Drew. “It’s a great shape of house, and we loved the original features.” Nevertheless, as is typical with homes from this period, the ground-floor accommodation consisted of a series of separate smallish rooms, all with little connection to the garden.
The couple had considered and rejected various improvement options over the years: “At one stage we thought of cutting through from the dining room to the lounge,” says Carol. A better idea presented itself during a visit to relatives in Holland, where they came across Arts and Crafts houses that felt light and bright, something that had been achieved by opening up the garden-facing rear walls.
While doing the same back home in Glasgow would certainly bring in more light, the Grieves’ ambitions went further. “We started to wonder, ‘How far out can we go without bothering the planners?’ and we were advised that we could do so by four metres,” says Drew. “We remembered a pavilion that we’d seen in Kent that we loved for its seamless glazing and overhanging roof. We spoke to Ewan Cameron, the architect who’d built it, and told him what we were looking for. We loved the ideas he came back to us with – in fact, there is no difference between his design and what is now built.”
This is just a taster, you can browse the full article with more stunning photography on pages 142-148, issue 107.
DETAILS
What Alterations to a two-storey Edwardian terraced house
Where Glasgow
Architect Ewan Cameron Architects
Interviews Caroline Ednie
Photography David Barbour
