contemporary house
YORK
we redeveloped an ugly carpark site in the historic core of the centre of YORK with two houses - a cottage on the historic street front adjacent to the 2* listed Dutch House, the first brick house in YORK - then behind we designed a 4 storey, 5 bedroom house - the first new house within 150m of York Minster for 250 years.
the project started with an innocent conversation with an existing client who was looking for a central site to build his own home in the centre of YORK
you couldn't get more central - 150m from the east rose window of York Minster on a street that is the current day setting of filming for the renowned BBC drama Gentleman Jack
the site was used as daytime parking & left at night as a scruffy parcel of a yard between high walls and 16 neighbouring listed buildings & sitting over 15' of archaeology dating back to the Viking era
the challenge was to over come planning prejudice to build next to one of the most sensitive architectural jewels in York - the Dutch House - to respect the setting of the medieval Minster by not creating any overt overlooking & of course to create a modern, light filled family home with parking for 3 cars, outside living space & spacious accommodation
the design development & planning process took us through two planning applications & an appeal led by NMD with specialist Planning Consultants O'Neill's in York - successfully overturning at appeal 3 out of 4 negative issues we built the 4 storey building in its historic setting
A sophisticated sprinkler system, 1 hour glass screens that were heat & fire proof allowed us to create a central stair through the open top lit spine of the building a unique glass, steel & oak staircase that doesn't touch the wall and relies on unhindered views through the whole house
a turntable set into the cobbled courtyard is big enough to swing a Bentley through 360º along with integrated walk through garaging from the private central York courtyard
the house is super insulated & combines Scandinavian window systems with internal doors & joinery factory finished from Germany
this quiet peaceful house in the centre of town was built to the highest build standards through every element and process of the construction
