YOU’LL BE CONVERTED
0 Comments | Evening Standard; London (UK), Feb 24, 2010 | by Tom Lewis
AT LAST it is possible to find well-priced commuter homes that pack a design punch in suburbia, where formulaic new-build properties seem to have been the order of the day for many years.
Heritage conversions — whether a Victorian school, listed hospital, church, barn or country mansion — offer most scope for imaginative interiors, but it takes a committed developer to make the most of an old building full of character, one who is willing to carve out interesting, sometimes quirky spaces rather than go down the easy and greedy street route of cramming in flats in order to maximise profits.
City & Country, as its name implies, understands this niche market better than most developers. This company has a passion to retain, even recreate, original architectural features and then add metropolitan-style interior design finishes to give homes the look of a warehouse loft.
“And buyers love them. There’s a real appetite for these properties because they’ve got a genuine wow factor,” says the company’s sales director, Helen Moore.
At The Galleries, in Brentwood, Essex, City & Country has restored the fabric of a former asylum by stripping back decorative stonework, gothic arches, cast-iron columns, huge timber beams, oak staircases, mouldings and fireplaces that over the years had been covered up or damaged.
Homes are set around cloistered courtyards. The lengthy communal corridors have been opened up and now form part of the converted residential space.
Original needlework blocks have been split into apartments. Even the deconsecrated chapel is a 2,500sq ft residence
finding a profitable niche