Wednesday 4th September, 2019
Transforming a Historic Building
“The new old house.” Transforming a historic building into a stunning contemporary home.
By Mark Dawes,
Managing Director, CAD Architects
When choosing a property to be professionally converted by a
residential architect, people often assume that they face an ‘either-or’ choice:
“Should we buy a
historic property with lots of authentic character, but fewer of the modern design
features that we ideally want? Or do we opt for a clean, spacious modern home
with state-of-the-art interior design and facilities, but with less charm than
an older building?”
The good news is that it is possible to design a home that
gives you the best of both worlds. Furthermore, in the hands of the right
architect, you will find that exceptionally beautiful homes can be created when
you interweave modernity and history.
People have often observed that some of the most interesting
conversations occur when you have two opposing points of view. In a way, that
is what happens at CAD Architects when our team is working on a project like
this. For every aspect of the building, we will consider which are the vital
original features that we must preserve and how we can blend these harmoniously
with modern elements to create a unique ‘conversation.’
One of our proudest achievements in this area is the work
that CAD Architects carried out on Blowinghouse Mill. This is a former 19th
century corn mill, situated in a pretty woodland valley at Blowinghouse,
between St.Agnes and Perranporth.
There have been corn mills in Cornwall since the 13th
century. Blowinghouse Mill would have been built during the last golden age for
corn mills. Early in the 20th century the arrival of small, economical machines
meant that farmers could mill their own corn.
A mill building had to be substantial in size. It needed to
house all the milling machinery, which was powered by a water wheel, as well as
space to store grain and flour. This meant that we had an excellent framework
to work with, giving us huge scope to modernise the mill while retaining enough
of the original structure to give a clear impression of how it must have looked
in its heyday.
One of the first clues that tells you this is no ordinary
home is when you initially drive up to the building. At first glance it is
difficult to tell whether this is a ‘new’ or ‘old’ construction. The balcony
and floor to ceiling windows may lead you to initially suspect that the whole
home is a modern construction. But then the eye begins to register the gorgeous
original stone of the old mill house section and the original Cornish slates on
the roof. You gradually realise that this is a home where built heritage meets
stylish, contemporary design.
For this project, CAD Architects worked very closely with
the excellent team at Williams Creative Homes to ensure that every aspect of
the exterior and interior was planned and executed in meticulous detail. The
whole project was driven by a fantastic client who had a powerful vision of the
outstanding home that could be created, combined with an uncompromising
commitment to the quality of the result.
The client had a real passion for restoring the original
character of Blowinghouse Mill and this even extended to the reinstatement of
the water wheel itself.
One of the great benefits of combining old with new is that
it gave us a broad range of materials to work with for the interior, from
traditional stone, slate and wood to modern elements such as steel, glass, and
even exposed concrete blocks. These could be used in different combinations to
give each room its own individual personality.
Perhaps more than any other project we have worked on over
recent years, when I show people photos of Blowinghouse Mill, it elicits a
response of: “Oh my God, I want to live there!”
It seems to appeal equally strongly to lovers of old houses and lovers of
modern home design.
The phrase “The New Old House” is used as the title for an
excellent book edited by Marc Kristal, which shows some of the best examples of
how this approach has been used in houses in Europe and North America.
I believe CAD Architects will see many more projects like
this over the next ten years. It is an approach which creates homes that are as
individual as their owners, homes which possess a timeless style that will
never go out of date. Aa a result, creating a home like this also provides and
excellent long-term investment for the owners.
You can see photos of the finished design of Blowinghouse
Mill by clicking on the link below: