An exemplary renovation of an early Georgian, Grade II*-listed house takes centre stage within a handsome terrace on Stoke Newington’s highly coveted Church Street. It has undergone an exacting restoration by the current owners in recent years under the conservation expertise and sympathetic eye of Butler Hegarty Architects. The renovation involved the reunification of the upper levels following 20th-century divisions, and the creation of a one-bedroom flat at the lower-ground level, resulting in five bedrooms overall, and an internal footprint approaching 4,000 sq ft.

Setting The Scene

The house is one of a pair of early-mid 18th-century Georgian houses located in the Stoke Newington Conservation Area. It is central to an elegant terrace of similar architecture; originally three storeys and a basement, though modified at some point in the early 19th century to incorporate a raised attic, it now comprises four storeys plus a lower-ground level. In the latter part of the 20th century, the building was laterally converted into four separate dwellings.

The house is replete with historical material, reflecting its statutory listing. The ground floor retains its original panelling in both front and rear rooms and the staircase is complete from ground to third floor alongside original panelling and dado rail. The first floor receptions contain a majority of original panelling and so too the second floor, in particular its front room. The renovation included the removal of non-original aspects, as well as top-to-bottom repair and reinstatement in the original language where necessary, including chimneys, brickwork, roof and windows, and the immediate surrounding landscapes.

The Grand Tour

While typical of the period in plan and layout, the house is wider than its contemporaries on the terrace owing to its straddling of a grand carriage gateway. This means that the house benefits from extra rooms at first, second and third levels and spans four windows in width as opposed to the usual three.

Entry is via reinstated York stone steps to the raised ground floor, which rise alongside cast iron railings. The entrance displays a Greek revival doorcase with panelled pilasters, garland and Patera frieze, and a mutule cornice of the Doric order.

A long corridor leads left to the formal dining room where panelled walls are illuminated by two high six-over-six sash windows. At its centre is an open fire set within a marble surround and topped by an ornately carved 18th-century century mantle. Wonderfully worn, original pine floors unite the dining room and kitchen, which has been reimagined for the 21st century with bespoke shaker cabinets, Welsh slate worktops and a range cooker perfectly placed with the Carrara framed cove of an angled chimney. A pair of high reaching sash windows pour southerly light into the space and bench seating allows the foliage of the garden to be enjoyed in stillness. A guest WC is positioned by the door to the private rear garden.

The original box staircase has been a remarkable survivor of the decades, running alongside alternating barely twist balusters to reach the upper levels. The first floor is arranged with two receptions, one serving as a snug, and an adjacent study. New oak floors run underfoot in the large front reception and a triplex of floor-to-ceiling sash windows invite light from the northerly views over Stoke Newington Church Street.  A gas fire replaces a 19th-century fireplace, housed by a sympathetic replica surround.

The formal reception opens to a snug at the rear and study to the side, both testaments to the exquisite new palettes that adorn the walls; the caravan red of the study works beautifully against the original wide hardwood floors and the green blue of the snug amplifies the southern sunlight, where the bench seating of the kitchen is replicated beneath high sash windows. In every room, plaster cornicing has been painstakingly restored.

The majority of the second floor is given to a superb principal bedroom suite, lit by a trio of sash windows. Weathered floorboards offer a rich texture against the panelled walls and revealed brick chimneypiece. Shallow cupboards are retained in the eastern wall and a wardrobe is positioned within the partition to the bathroom where large format limestone tiles form an unintrusive response to contemporary needs.

A bedroom is set to the rear of the second floor, overlooking the garden below, and two further bedrooms are set on the third floor, one en suite, the other with the use of a bathroom. A utility room is also conveniently positioned on the third floor. Each of the three third floor rooms has the benefit of additional illumination from rooflights overhead.

An independent one-bedroom apartment occupies the lower ground level which is accessed from the front lightwell patio.  The bedroom is situated at the front; beyond a shower room and WC is an open plan kitchen and living room with access onto a rear patio.

The Great Outdoors

The house, in its entirety, has a variety of outside spaces, with patios front and rear, at lower ground level. From the raised ground, at the end of the entrance corridor, a door opens onto the lovely rear garden. A bridge with glazed balustrades passes over the lower patio to arrive at a York stone patio for al fresco dining and the lawn area, which is filled with bounding wisteria, mature shrubs and trees.

Out and About

Stoke Newington Church Street is a celebrated avenue of incredible energy and quiet sophistication. It's home to the Spence Bakery, Escocesa, Rubedo, the wonderful Japanese cuisine of AUN and The Good Egg, as well as many other independent boutiques, cafes and pubs. Whole Foods Market and Newington Green Fruit and Vegetables are close by for a variety of fresh produce. The house is also within easy reach of the numerous independent shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs around Newington Green; The Clarence Tavern, Esters, Mangal 1, Jolene, Perilla and Cadet are particular neighbourhood favourites. Primeur is a short walk away. On Saturday mornings, a farmers' market takes place in St Paul's churchyard on Stoke Newington High Street.

Clissold Park just a short walk from the house. It’s home to an aviary, beautiful lakes, a café, tennis courts, a skate park, a children’s playground and paddling pool–as well as a few resident deer. Within the park is the Grade II-listed colonnaded Clissold Mansion, built in the 1790s for a local Quaker. Abney Park & Cemetery is even more local, and is one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’, an unofficial designation given to 19th-century private cemeteries in London. It is also a private nature reserve, with more than 2,500 varieties of plants.

The Woodbury Wetlands is also close by for further outdoor space; a former working reservoir, it is now a thriving habitat for migratory birds, as well as a popular outdoor swimming area.

Transport connections are excellent. Stoke Newington Station, around ten minutes on foot, runs Overground trains to Liverpool Street in about 10 minutes. Canonbury is also within easy reach, for trains to Highbury and Islington, Hampstead, Shoreditch High Street and Camden. There are plenty of good bus connections to the centre of the City, as well as to London Bridge, Victoria, Waterloo and Kings Cross.

Council Tax Band: G