Highbury Apartment

A Georgian flat on Highbury Fields, opened up and given back its grandeur.

This two-bedroom apartment sits on Highbury Terrace, looking out over the green expanse of Highbury Fields. The renovation set out to carry that leafy outlook through as much of the flat as possible while restoring a sense of grandeur to the listed interior. The building dates from the late 18th century and was originally a single Georgian house. After the second world war, with housing in short supply, it was subdivided into a series of apartments. In the decades since, the first floor flat passed through a run of unsympathetic refurbishments that stripped away its original proportions and mouldings, leaving only the windows and shutters as surviving historic features. Even so, Listed Building Consent was still required for the new scheme, and it was secured successfully.

The central design challenge grew out of the ambition to remove an internal corridor that linked the living spaces, bathroom and bedroom. Folding that circulation space into the living room made the room larger and gave the apartment a more contemporary feel, but it also left five doors opening off a single space, with the risk that the living room would read as a lobby. The answer lay in careful detailing. The doors to the kitchen and study, both at the front of the house, were made tall, double and sliding, so they disappear into the wall and let the living room extend visually to the full width of the flat. A new herringbone floor reinforces that sense of length.

To recover the original grand proportions, the architraves of the sliding doors were aligned with the height of the original windows and their moulding profiles were echoed. The same treatment was carried across to the three remaining hinged doors leading to the lobby, bedroom and bathroom, with all the architraves aligned even where lowered ceilings on the far side restrict the height of the openings. Reinstated cornices and ceiling roses nod to the age of the property and reinforce the squarer plan of the enlarged living room.

Personality comes through colour and bespoke detail. A red wardrobe marks the entrance and the new kitchen is finished in emerald green, while smaller touches include custom pink handles on the sliding doors and polished brass cabinetry in the bathroom. These colourful moments play against the calm, warm backdrop of neutral and grey finishes used throughout. Bespoke joinery, including the living room bookshelves and custom light fittings, was designed and manufactured by David B Ross.

The apartment measures 61 m² and was completed in 2019.

Architecture by Patalab Architects. Bespoke joinery and lighting by David B Ross. Photography by Jan Piotrowicz.