Alderley

Tucked away on this corner site was a period house dating back to 1800’s, the property once owned by a coal merchant had been neglected over the years and had fallen into disrepair. The basement was damp and dark, it housed a kitchen and 2 bedrooms. The first floor held the hall with its beautiful staircase and detailed cornicing, it had 3 reception rooms which needed a lot of attention. The landing housed a split bathroom and loo which led up to the 1st floor which had 2 bedrooms. For a house if its size it was very under utilised and spread out.

Van Den Bergh Developments went about re arranging the house to ensure the house was beautifully restored but also to ensure the house functioned to a new owners needs. To do this we played with various options of layouts and finally came to the most practical layout and design without compromising on any of its original features.
When we went for planning there was a number of objections, as we felt very strongly about the houses design and keeping the integrity of the building we brought an appeal to An Bord Plaenla and the decision was overturned which meant we were able to continue with the design we felt was the best for this property.

We then set about the mammoth task of building and restoring the property. The first element we undertook was to seal and damp proof the basement, this would ensure that there would never be any future damp issues. We then proceeded to transform the basement into a suite of bedrooms, this included a luxurious Master bedroom with ensuite and its own private terrace. 2 Guest bedrooms with their own ensuite to the side of the property also leading onto a terrance looking into the walled garden, to the other side of the house we had 2 more bedrooms a bathroom and a store room. This transformed the house to a 5 bedroom house with all the sleeping quarters on the same floor which for a family home is very important to owners.

On the first floor we transformed the Library and Sitting room into a bright airy space by adding an additional window to the side of the house and breaking through to allow for a large duel purpose room, a formal sitting room with fireplace and library with ample light flooding in. In the Dining room with is high ceilings we broke through the external wall and added a Kitchen, Utility and Family room, the kitchen was a bespoke inflame kitchen with a large Edwardian window flooding the room with light and the sunken family room had a screen of double doors opening up to a private garden with patio area for alfresco dining.

Where once sat a landing loo we transformed this space into a beautifully panelled office, at the beginning of the restoration we discovered a window had been blocked up, once it was opened up we discover it was hiding a Seaview.

Leading up to the 2nd floor we decided this space was the perfect area to add the “pièce de rèsistance” a home cinema, the room was fitted out with reclaimed tiered seating from Lambert theatre, a fridge was installed hidden within the panelling and outside the room hosted a bar area and bathroom, also incorporated on this floor was another store room perfect for storing all the owners needs.