Walmer House of Modern Antiquities

Locat­ed on a sig­nif­i­cant street in Kew, the Walmer House of Mod­ern Antiq­ui­ties is a state­ly ear­ly Vic­to­ri­an home with grand pro­por­tions and ornate detail­ing. Hav­ing under­gone pre­vi­ous ren­o­va­tions, the design approach for the house was to rein­state and restore orig­i­nal her­itage details whilst bal­anc­ing them with sym­pa­thet­ic min­i­mal­ist interventions. 

The orig­i­nal veran­dah, led-light door and high arch­ing entry cor­ri­dor have been care­ful­ly restored and ele­vat­ed with a dec­o­ra­tive mar­ble floor. Off this cor­ri­dor lies four high­ly detailed ornate Vic­to­ri­an for­mal rooms, heav­i­ly dec­o­rat­ed in both inte­ri­or archi­tec­ture and fur­nish­ing. This orna­men­tal detail­ing and par­tic­u­lar­ly the under­ly­ing crafts­man­ship in plas­ter, stone, tim­ber and met­al work is a cat­a­lyst for design in the con­tem­po­rary spaces. A grand void and stair­case fills the cen­tre of the home. Top lit by a cir­cu­lar dec­o­ra­tive sky light, the intri­cate brass and steel handrail glis­tens against the bur­nished white plas­ter­work. An abstrac­tion of the orig­i­nal arch forms is used in a more con­tem­po­rary man­ner to frame the orig­i­nal, and to cre­ate a tun­nel like con­nec­tion to the orig­i­nal staffed kitchen. The bal­ance between restora­tion, and sym­pa­thet­ic con­tem­po­rary detail­ing cre­ates an envi­ron­ment in which to appre­ci­ate the crafts­man­ship with­out being overwhelmed. 

Our clients have a sig­nif­i­cant col­lec­tion of eclec­tic antiques, fur­nish­ings and art­works acquired from all over the world. A design strat­e­gy for hous­ing and show­cas­ing these pieces result­ed in a bal­ance of dec­o­ra­tion and sim­plic­i­ty. Their crafts­man­ship and artistry served as inspi­ra­tion in the high­ly craft­ed sol­id tim­ber, brass and stone kitchen bath­room and cel­lar join­ery. Fur­ther­more, the intro­duc­tion of more sim­pli­fied and paired back mod­ern spaces allows for the appre­ci­a­tion for these diverse, elab­o­rate pieces.

To re-estab­lish lux­u­ry details from the era, the checker­board mar­ble floor with detailed bor­ders and tran­si­tion slabs is used through­out the inte­ri­ors. Con­tem­po­rary bur­nished plas­ter walls have a notable hand fin­ished tex­tured qual­i­ty rem­i­nis­cent of the Vic­to­ri­an era plas­ter­work. The under­ground cel­lar has been fit­ted with sol­id wal­nut details and antiqued mir­rors, cre­at­ing a beau­ti­ful moody stor­age and dis­play facility.

The high­ly respect­ful response is large­ly inte­ri­or in nature, fit­ting with­in the pro­por­tions of the orig­i­nal build­ing and min­imis­ing its impact on the integri­ty of the build­ing. Whilst the entire exte­ri­or of the home has been revived, the aes­thet­ic is intact while adding ther­mal per­for­mance and longevi­ty. Key moments of the inte­ri­or are expressed exter­nal­ly includ­ing the intro­duc­tion of a large win­dow in the mas­ter ensuite to improve light qual­i­ty. A minor expan­sion to the kitchen mod­ernises this for­mer back of house space, allow­ing for fam­i­ly open plan din­ing that con­nects to norther­ly land­scape terracing. 

A sin­gu­lar archi­tec­tur­al addi­tion is includ­ed at the rear of the home in the scale and loca­tion of the orig­i­nal sta­ble house and wash­rooms. The high-pitched roof and rough blend­ed stone use archi­tec­tur­al ver­nac­u­lar rem­i­nis­cent of the era. With the kitchen and din­ing able to seam­less­ly open on to the ter­race, this space is a sig­nif­i­cant out­door ameni­ty includ­ing BBQ, piz­za oven, laun­dry and pool change rooms.

Com­ple­ment­ing the for­mal­i­ty of the state­ly home, a for­mal gar­den designed by Paul Ban­gay pro­vides a lush struc­ture for the sur­round­ing grounds. The new out­door ter­race and refin­ished pool is with­in the gar­den set­ting and con­tains dec­o­ra­tive sym­pa­thet­ic com­ple­men­tary detail­ing. A strong rela­tion­ship between archi­tec­ture and land­scape form and dec­o­ra­tion can be seen through­out the home.

In cre­at­ing a series of jux­ta­po­si­tions, her­itage and mod­ern, inte­grat­ed and dis­tinct, ornate and abstract, the Walmer House of Mod­ern Antiq­ui­ties ele­vates, re-frames and cel­e­brates an already grand home for its next 150 years.