A Joinery Masterclass

Once the top two floors of a 19th-century merchant’s house, this duplex penthouse now balances bold architectural gestures with the most intricate detail. The former comes courtesy of architect Carmody Groarke, which added a rooftop pavilion made from huge sheets of angled aluminium – like giant stacked playing cards, or an abstracted interpretation of a traditional Mansard roof – as well as renovating and remodelling inside. And the latter is the work of Bristol joinery firm Young & Norgate, which was tasked with translating Carmody Groarke’s ambitious plans for the interiors into real life.

A restrained palette of materials inside gives the apartment a beautiful sense of cohesion: pale heartwood ash and silver travertine for the floors, with the travertine repeated in bathrooms for basins and showers; sanded stainless steel in the kitchen that echoes the lightweight, luminous aluminium pavilion outside; and finally black American walnut, whose distinctive grain and chocolate-brown hue give the project its richness and soul.

The result may look blissfully calm and simple, but the effort it has taken to get here is considerable. “We work to a fraction of a millimetre; a very, very fine tolerance,” says Ross Norgate, co-founder of Young & Norgate with Dave Young. Measuring up the building, and the resulting CAD drawings, had to anticipate every irregularity of the listed structure to ensure that the build on site would go exactly to plan. Plus, there are elements of the design where the timber joinery flows from space to space, floor to floor, function to function, with these many component parts needing to be viewed as a coherent whole.

“The kitchen runs all the way around, then goes into a bar, then into a staircase, then down the stairs, and then it runs into wall panelling that goes the entire way along the lower floor corridor,” explains Norgate. Within these elements there are (among other things) a secret door to a lift in the kitchen, invisible pull-out warming drawers under the ovens, fold-back doors on the bar, and plenty of storage space. “The number of parts that we had to deal with in producing that section of work, it’s just phenomenal – the technical measurements and fitting everything in. There’s just so much going on,” says Norgate.

A fluted detail helps to almost completely disguise the various hidden openings while lending a textural contrast to the flat veneer used elsewhere. For the flat sections, matched veneers (from the same tree) create a carefully coordinated dance of pattern across the surface, delivering a subtle degree of irregularity. “We used hundreds of square metres of veneer, and it’s a bit of a process to make sure that we’re using the right leaves in the right location,” says Norgate. “It needed one person just overseeing the veneer work, to get it right.”

A contrast between old and new is central to the project’s identity. Large skylights set between original roof trusses flood the loft-like upper floor with natural light, emphasising the drama of the roof volume while drawing connections between the 19th-century structure and its contemporary interventions.

So complete is Carmody Groarke’s interior architecture, there’s little loose furniture required. Young & Norgate also made the kitchen island, dining table and leather-topped desk, all to the architect’s specifications, while in the living room, low-slung sofas meet mid-century classics such as the pair of Carl Hansen & Søn ‘Shell’ lounge chairs, all set off by the homeowners’ collection of art. In the main bedroom, the semi-open plan bathroom has a bath in a transparent smoke colour, a ghostly presence in the company of all the solid surfaces and right angles.

This being the third and fourth floor, access was a further challenge, with larger pieces delivered via a window with a furniture lift, which was only permitted at restricted hours given the building’s central location. But despite its crowded setting, Norgate remarks on the peace and calm of the apartment, the result of Carmody Groarke’s close attention to sound-proofing this home from the hubbub below. Combined with its ordered material palette, rare precision and the quiet luxury of detail, the effect here is one of deep tranquillity.