Hollymead Lane

5 Hollymead Lane, Bristol

The site contained a house built in the 1970s with a design very much of its time, with the roof broken into two unequal monopitches, one side much higher than the other, with very angular and assertive forms. The walls were a combination of bright white render with dark stained panels and enormous overhanging boxed gutters at the eaves. At the front of the house a curved rubble stone wall contained the entrance but was unsightly and inappropriate. The render was badly cracked, the windows were rotted and the house in general was in poor condition.

It was decided to demolish the existing house and construct a new house with high levels of insulation and a much better layout of the rooms. At ground floor level the new house has a double integral garage, entrance lobby, study, garden wc, utility, hall with oak stairs and cloakroom and a kitchen / breakfast room / dining running through via double doors to the sitting room. The kitchen flows into a bay which has windows on three sides overlooking the private rear garden. An offset structural column in the sitting room allows the sliding doors to be pulled back from the corner giving complete access to the paved terrace. At first-floor level there are five bedrooms, all with en-suite bar one, including the master suite with a walk-through closet and en-suite with double basins in a projecting oriel window. There are also stairs leading to the loft space which is fully lined ready for conversion into a playroom or bedroom.

The house has been designed in an Arts and Crafts style to be much more in keeping with its surroundings. At the front the natural slate roof flows down to the top of the ground floor windows, giving the impression of a modest-sized house. Two of the bedrooms project through the roof in lead-clad dormers. The windows to the hall and stairs are stepped, running up the front façade. The rear of the house is very different, with full-height two-storey gables and generous windows, particularly to the ground floor breakfast room, dining room and living room.