Harriet Williams’ 1960s home was built as part of a post-war 1,500-acre housing estate in Dulwich
(Picture: Adrian Lourie)A Sixties terraced house which once looked like a “squat” on The Dulwich estate has been named the house of the year by New London Architecture (NLA).
The dark, cramped property with mouldering walls and no back door was transformed into a three-storey contemporary family home, and has scooped the Overall Winner award for the NLA’s Don’t Move Improve! awards 2022 – announced last night.
The competition saw a panel of judges whittle down 200 renovation projects to 15 finalists and from that shortlist six category winners and one overall winner were chosen.
When vintage poster dealer Harriet Williams bought Little Brownings, the project which bagged the top award, it was a wreck and "the upstairs looked like a squat", she said.
The 1960s home which was built as part of the post-war 1,500-acre housing estate in south London was neglected and had been taken off the market temporarily due to lack of interest.
Williams and her then partner saw the potential as a family home and bought it for £725,000. They spent £220,000 extending the front, converted the attic and opening up the downstairs.
Working with the architects Archmongers LLP, Williams now walks under her metal pergola and through her bright yellow front door into her light kitchen extension which has replaced the rickety lean-to and bin store. The kids can sit at the clay-rendered concrete breakfast bar (which Williams describes as a giant tongue) and look into the open plan living area, through the glazed rear into the garden.
Upstairs on the landing is a secret study behind a sliding door which disappears into the wall when the family want to let light in from the office window into the stairwell. A masterbedroom suite is now on the second floor.
The judges (Phil Coffey of Coffey Architects, TV presenter Kunele Barker, Sebastian Wood of engineers Whitby Wood and journalist Anna White) described the home as subtle and stylish with a "jewellery box" of design features while staying true to its mid-century characters.
“This felt like the house we can all imagine ourselves in and the improvements we could all do. It was the embodiment of Don’t Move, Improve," said Wood.
Across all the 15 shortlisted projects the costs ranged from £121,000 to £1,000,000 but regardless of spend, the six winners were all chosen for their creativity, practicality and liveability.
The specialist categories included Urban Oasis in an era where the demand for private outside space in London is at an all-time high. The winner of this award was called Church Road by architects RUFF ARCHITECTS who took this low-slung timber-frame house and extended it while cultivating the surrounding plot.
Situated on a back alley in Highgate with ancient (protected) oak trees, the sunken house is shrouded in greenery with a garden studio at the other end of the tiered garden for the artist in residence.
"Our project places the family’s interaction with nature at its heart. Each space has been carefully configured to reach out and engage with the existing mature landscape, the ancient oaks which provide a sense of timelessness," said architect Paul Ruff.
A new category the Transformation Prize was invented this year to award the Slide and Slot House in Enfield Lock with an accolade marking its incredible journey from Victorian workers’ cottage, with no window at the back, into a family home where the sides of the dining room slide back fully to connect with the garden to so they can watch the canal slide by. "The front of the house hid the extent of the architectural interventions internally and to the rear. This project made me smile. A lot," said Kunle Barker.
The 2022 prize winners
• Home of the Year 2022: Little Brownings, Lewisham by Archmongers
• Materiality and Craftsmanship Prize: Concrete Plinth House, Hackney by DGN Studio
• Compact Design Prize: Non-Boxy Lofty, Lewisham by Fraher & Findlay
• Unique Character Prize: Forest House, Waltham Forest by AOC Architecture
• Urban Oasis Prize: Church Road, Haringey by RUFFARCHITECTS
• Transformation Prize: Slide and Slot House, Enfield by Ashton Porter Architects
