Threshold House

Studio McW extended and redesigned the lower ground floor of a semi-detached Victorian home in De Beauvoir, London. The project reorganises a split-level property around a clear balance between spaces for entertaining and those for quieter, more private use.

The clients wanted the lower ground floor to open up towards the rear garden, creating a sociable, flexible level for hosting friends and family. The brief called for a generous kitchen-dining area, living room, utility room, dual-access bathroom and a flexible room functioning as either home office or guest bedroom.

The extension’s layered facade retains visual depth, balancing the proportions of the existing Victorian house and articulating the relationship between the home’s social and private spaces. Tiered brickwork and full-height Crittall-style doors is offset by a cross-like composition of colour-matched metalwork that lightens the composition and future-proofs the structure allowing for a potential upper-floor addition.

Internally, the kitchen anchors a circular route through the plan. Two enlarged openings connect it to the living room, while a dual-access bathroom and sliding pocket door between the study and dining area allow easy movement, particularly useful when the homeowners are entertaining guests. A rooflight set behind exposed timber beams draws additional light over the dining table.