{"id":486351,"date":"2026-03-20T19:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486351\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:22:19","slug":"archmongers-revamps-three-mid-century-houses-on-dulwich-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486351\/","title":{"rendered":"Archmongers revamps three mid-century houses on Dulwich Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"

London studio Archmongers<\/a> has injected new materials, colours and details in the renovations<\/a>\u00a0of three homes from the 1950s and 60s, all located on the Dulwich Estate in southeast London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The three projects follow on Little Brownings, another refurbishment on this renowned mid-century estate, which won Archmongers the top prize at the Don’t Move, Improve awards in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"FrontLittle Brownings II is a 1960s townhouse with a kitchen in a new front extension<\/p>\n

Each project has unique details and quirks, relating to both the varying characteristics of the properties and the tastes and requirements of the owners.<\/p>\n

But in all three, Archmongers<\/a> founders Margaret Bursa and Johan Hybschmann aimed to improve the sense of space and flow. This meant reconfiguring layouts, opening up ceilings, or adding internal windows or voids between floors.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorThe Oakfield Terrace renovation better connects the 1950s house with its garden<\/p>\n

“Houses often require a complete retrofit, which can be a significant financial commitment,” Bursa told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“However, an extension is not always necessary; simply rethinking the layout of the existing space can be effective.”<\/p>\n

\"FacadeThe Tylney Avenue refurbishment converted the garage and loft of a 1960s townhouse<\/p>\n

The architects introduced hard-wearing materials, particularly in areas that experience the most wear, and used splashes of colour to create visual connections between different elements.<\/p>\n

“It’s important to respect the original feel of these well-considered houses as much as you would in significant period properties, but it can be achieved while still thoroughly updating every aspect of the house,” said Bursa.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ray<\/p>\n

Archmongers updates London home to be a “celebration of craftsmanship”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

“We’ve studied the heavy-weight examples of this era of houses for years, including those built by Arne Jacobsen<\/a>, Alvar Aalto<\/a> and Friis & Moltke,” she continued.<\/p>\n

“By learning from some of these past projects and mixing our own design agenda, we’ve injected a detail level and quality that these houses simply couldn’t afford when originally built.”<\/p>\n

\"KitchenA circular skylight tops the new kitchen of Little Brownings II<\/p>\n

The Dulwich Estate includes over 5,000 houses, many of which were designed by architects Austin Vernon & Partners and mass-built by construction company Wates between the 1950s and 1970s.<\/p>\n

The first of Archmongers’ new trio, Little Brownings II, follows a similar format to its award-winning neighbour.<\/p>\n

The scheme centred around the replacement of the front extension, which facilitated the relocation of the kitchen. This opened up the ground floor of the three-storey 1960s townhouse, creating an enlarged living room that is newly separated from the entrance hall.<\/p>\n

\"KitchenThe space also features exposed timber ceiling joists and terracotta floor tiles<\/p>\n

Terracotta tiles clad the exterior of the extension, which also boasts windows on two sides, exposed timber ceiling joists and a circular skylight.<\/p>\n

The interior palette includes square terracotta tiles, Douglas fir, linoleum-clad kitchen cabinets, and splashes of blue, matching the colour of the front door.<\/p>\n

\"LivingAluminium-framed glazing was added to the Oakfield Terrace living room<\/p>\n

The second project, Oakfield Terrace, focused on simplifying the layout of a two-storey 1950s row house and better connecting it with its garden.<\/p>\n

An old rear extension was removed, allowing the ground floor to frame a new patio. Aluminium-framed glass doors lead out from the living room, matching a box window that projects outwards to create a seating area.<\/p>\n

\"KitchenThe kitchen features exposed glulam timber joists and steel columns<\/p>\n

At the front of the house, a subtle extension created room for a contemporary kitchen. This space features exposed glulam timber joists and steel columns, plus\u00a0a generous skylight and terracotta floor tiles.<\/p>\n

A wide concrete step opens up the base of the staircase, leading up to first-floor bedrooms that have been opened up to the rafters.<\/p>\n

\"StaircaseA wide concrete step forms the base of the staircase<\/p>\n

The third and most recent renovation is Tylney Avenue, a refurbishment of a three-storey 1960s townhouse that involved converting a ground-floor garage into a kitchen and extending the loft to add an extra bedroom.<\/p>\n

The building’s thermal performance was improved with extra insulation in the walls, floors and roofs, and new triple-glazed windows, and the interior was given more texture by exposing brick walls and timber joists.<\/p>\n

\"KitchenThe Tylney Avenue refurbishment created a new ground-floor kitchen<\/p>\n

A new opening was created between the ground-floor kitchen and the first-floor living room, while a poured and polished concrete floor connects the ground floor with the terrace.<\/p>\n

Cabinets were built into the balustrades, combining different timbers with marble and glass, and a new loft bedroom features a dormer window neatly wrapped in lead.<\/p>\n

\"LivingBespoke cabinets frame the balustrade overlooking a new opening between the ground and first floors<\/p>\n

The projects follow numerous other mid-century renovations in Archmongers’ portfolio, reinforcing the studio’s expertise in sensitively modernising properties from this era.<\/p>\n

“It’s nice to see that more people are now sharing our love of mid-century architecture and choosing to invest in sensitively updating and transforming the UK housing stock,” added Bursa.<\/p>\n

The photos of Oakfield are by Jim Stephenson<\/a>, the photos of Little Brownings II are by Megan Taylor<\/a>, and the photos of Tylney Avenue are by both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London studio Archmongers has injected new materials, colours and details in the renovations\u00a0of three homes from the 1950s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[172418,6225,6485,6486,1120,309,96,47502,388,47505,49163,35079,47503,40339,40340,150834,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-486351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-archmongers","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-england","tag-entertainment","tag-extensions","tag-london","tag-london-house-extensions","tag-mid-century-renovations","tag-renovations","tag-residential-extensions","tag-sectionall","tag-sectionarchitecture","tag-sectionexclusives","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}