Tower Cottage

Tower Cottage is a petite and eccentric piece of Victorian architecture. Built as a parsonage rather than a practical house, it had never quite worked as a home. With no room to extend, Paul Archer Design left the footprint untouched and instead re-organised the interior, turning an awkward property into a workable and elegant house.

At the rear, the old single-glazed conservatory has been replaced with a new double-glazed structure, braced and shaded by Douglas Fir timber fins. The entire wall to the garden is glazed and removable: a sliding system lets each panel be moved individually and stacked discreetly to one side. With the garden planting brought right up to the window cill, opening the panels makes the room feel like part of the garden itself.

Upstairs, the plan has been reworked into a generous master suite. A second bedroom sits off the main stairs, lit by a new sash window cut into the side of the tower, and is separated from the landing by a large sliding door of timber boards. Left open, the room reads as an open-plan study; closed, it becomes a guest bedroom. A glass panel set into the floor draws daylight down through the house from new rooflights above.

The project completed in 2014 and is arranged over three levels.

Architecture by Paul Archer Design, with Richard Gill as project architect. Built by Ecore Construction. Photography by Will Pryce.