Step Change

There are a hundred and one ways to renovate a Victorian terrace – and sometimes, one of them will stop you in your tracks. That’s the case with Mulroy Architects’ Russet House, with its steel staircase in the project’s signature rusty hue: architect Andrew Mulroy has turned a standard staircase lobby into a dramatic statement, while also solving the practical problem of how to throw abundant natural light into a new basement below.

Russet House is a classic example of opting for quality of space over quantity. By installing this generous atrium, it has sacrificed floor space on the ground floor (it was formerly the dining room in the centre of the plan) and lower-ground floors. But what it has added – volume, daylight and the sculptural beauty of the staircase itself – is a trade-off that is self-evident. “There were two options: put a staircase under the existing one, which would have been efficient and given us another room, or do what we did – make it a focal feature,” says homeowner James Kay.

He continues, describing the house in north London  as “a Victorian terrace, pretty typical of the area. I imagine 50 years ago it was beautiful, but it had just gone to ruin. By the time we bought it, it was uninhabitable.” The ambition, he explains, was to respect the history of the house while also layering in new architectural interventions. “The idea was more bringing back the Victorian-ness to life, but also mixing in new elements – the juxtaposition of old and new,” he says.

Hence, where the new atrium is, the original bare brick wall and a ghost of the old fireplace can still clearly be seen at ground level, painted white to match the new areas, and with an abstract work by Hannah Ludnow hanging above the fireplace. “You walk into this nice Victorian property with its tiling on the outside path and stained glass, then suddenly you’re met with this modernist staircase framed by old brickwork and the original fireplace. It was a chance to do something different,” he says.

This house may have been designed for a young family but there was also some anticipation of how they might live in the future – what Andrew Mulroy calls “fit and flow architecture”. He also describes this adaptability as a strand of sustainability, but that of “social sustainability” – ensuring a house can evolve over time. “Sometimes, the low-energy side can dominate the brief, but if it doesn’t work when your children are teenagers, or when parents move in, it’s not sustainable for the next generation,” he says.

The new basement includes a bedroom with ensuite, media room and gym, all set off the staircase atrium, with the bedroom getting some additional natural light via a lightwell at the front of the house. With separate access, this whole floor could in time be transformed into a self-contained apartment for guests or older children.

On the ground floor, in addition to the drama of the new atrium/hallway, the back of the house has been extended and opened up to become a full-width living-dining-kitchen space; rooflights, plus an internal window overlooking the atrium, allow the light to flow in from overhead, reaching into the basement. Upstairs, part of the roof of the extension is a terrace servicing a home office. Finally, two bedrooms on the top floor are now an impressive master suite, with one of the bedrooms now a generous spa-like bathroom with freestanding bath in the centre of the room, and curved tiled walls (like the rest of the interiors, the work of designers All & Nxthing).

The staircase’s russet tones dictate the colour palette in the rest of the house, with earthy colours, from russet to orange, brown and pink, set against cooler greys and whites. On the rear elevation, terracotta-coloured microcement render and rainwater goods are set off against paler brickwork. The concept extended into the garden itself, with its rusty-looking powder-coated steel contemporary pergola – every bit as sculpturally interesting as the staircase – that sails over a terrace area.

For Kay, the finished house balances heritage with innovation: “It’s still got the feel of a Victorian terrace, but you get these surprises – the staircase, the atrium, the flow of space –that make it modern and practical. We’ve ended up with a family home that works now, but will also work as the kids grow, or when family comes to stay.” And Mulroy sees it as a model for how to approach London’s aging housing stock: the house is over a century old, but true sustainability is successfully working out how it can be lived in for the next century.