A palimpsest of found materials at Leather Lane

At Leather Lane, beside one of London's liveliest street markets, Inglis Badrashi Loddo have extended, remodelled and repurposed a run-down Victorian building into a balanced development of six flats and two retail units.

The building was originally built in the 1890s as a public house. In the 1960s it was converted into a jewellers' shop at ground level with flats above; that work was poor, and the original shopfront was lost to a sub-standard reconstituted stone facade. Years of further changes and neglect left the building in decline by the time the client bought it.

IBLA's approach treats the project as a synthesis of the building's original elements and carefully judged new insertions. Original features such as brickwork, ironwork and roofscapes are highlighted and clearly set apart from the new work, creating a journey of discovery and a set of spaces unique to this building. Inside, a new core with a colourful steel stair stands against the exposed brick of the now internalised original rear facade and the cast-iron column it wraps around. That contrast carries into each flat, with unpainted DuraFinish plasterwork on the core set against bare brick and articulated openings on the facade. Old structural elements, the brick rear facade, party walls and original roof form, sit alongside new timber joists and steelwork, each given equal weight but kept distinct.

The building was substantially enlarged by a four-storey curved rendered rear extension and an additional storey screened behind a continuation of the original front roof slope. Together with the efficiency gained by relocating the stair, this lifted the number of flats from three to six. Fire sprinklers allowed tighter, more inventive internal layouts for the new units.

Architecture by Inglis Badrashi Loddo. Photography by David Grandorge.