Cleaver Square​

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Cleaver Square was laid out in 1789, and is the earliest planned residential square south of the Thames.  It is made up of a mix of late 18th C. and early to mid 19th C. terraced houses, and a lovely pub in the heart of the Kennington, with benches and trees surrounding a central gravelled garden. The venue for the annual Kennington Fete:- boules are played in summer, the local community gathers at Xmas to listen to carollers sing, and students from the neighbouring City & Guilds of London Arts school hang out here all year round. 

 

IBLA obtained planning permission for a new-build single-storey 2 bedroom dwelling on a small plot of land in the south-east corner of the Square. 

 

The site, previously used as a parking space, once formed part of the rear garden of a Grade 2 Listed 5-storey Georgian terraced townhouse fronting Kennington Park Road. The house and its neighbour form a flanking matching pair that mark the entrance to Cleaver Square, and have two unusual features - an original 3 storey curved-bay rear extension, and a pediment roof with a bisected attic lunnette.   

 

IBLA had previously implemented numerous sensitively-designed interior alterations to the main house, including opening up around the existing staircase to improve the connection between front and rear rooms, the addition of a new kitchen and the reconfiguration of the second floor to create a master bedroom suite with walk in wardrobes, master bathroom and study.

 

Entered through a modest painted timber gate set between rendered gateposts, IBLA’s new ‘hidden house’ is completely concealed behind a reconstructed brick garden wall which would have formed the boundary to the original site. 

 

A series of simple interconnected rooms, with full-height openings and an exposed painted timber roof structure wrap around a small courtyard garden.  Fully inward-looking, the house is nonetheless flooded with light, and threaded through with oblique views that create a sense of openness which belies the compactness of the floor plan. Internally, pocket doors slide away into walls, and the same floor finish is extended across the entire footprint of the site, in order to expand the sense of space.

 

The consistent material palette of reclaimed London mixed stock bricks and lime mortar walls is subtley altered as one moves through from the street into the site - Outwardly around the perimeter, the bricks and mortar are left in their natural tones, reinstating the original historic garden wall of the main house. Once inside the site however, the courtyard walls are ‘lime-washed’, and thickened flush mortar joints give a more monolithic feel to the brickwork.  Stepped doubled precast concrete lintel details over the openings, and a brick soldier course also underline this sense of solidity and permanence. 

 

Habitable rooms have glazed doors that open into the courtyard garden, with the bathrooms and kitchen/ living/ dining room having rooflights that also allow top light into the space.

 

A small forecourt worked into the tight plan allows a moment of separation from the square beyond, and accommodates a wall-mounted ASHP, bins and bike storage. High levels of insulation, and a sedum roof provide further environmental benefits, and serve to re-present the original character of the site as a walled garden when viewed from the upper floors of neighbouring buildings.