1808    Mecklenburg House

Liv Architects were approached by the client following their purchase of the beautiful Mecklenburg House in 2018. They were embarking on an extensive renovation of the existing house and wanted to plan for the future.

The existing house was rich with original features, textures and materials, but lacked a generous family kitchen or garden connection, as well as needing some additional bedroom space. Working with the client, we designed a generous extension in two parts; the first being a vaulted kitchen/ dining room extension, positioned to the northwest of the existing house and connecting to an original underutilized rear section of the house which became a sitting room with windows on two sides. A further wing occupying the footprint of some original outbuildings provides a generous pantry, as well as further bedroom and bathroom facilities. The two parts of the extension are linked together and to the original house through a flat roofed link, with a generous rooflight with stepped reveals.

The extension has a shaded glazed gable facing south, creating a sunny outside dining space and flooding the kitchen with light, but the key feature is a jack-and-jill chimney, providing an outside fireplace within a sunken seating area, as well as an internal woodburning stove within the dining room.

Materially, the extension follows the rich material language of the existing house, with the roof and walls wrapped in a clay plain tile, mirroring the existing house roof. The feature walls are picked out in a grey brick echoing the grey render of the existing house, with projecting brick detailing and stepped reveals into the two fireplaces. Fascias and soffits are finished in charred black timber, mirroring the black fascias of the existing house. The sunken seating area utilizes the bricks and pamments from the original outbuildings, both a sustainable choice as well as a beautiful one.