Rip it Up And START Again
could be the theme tune for this house’s transformation. Eighties indie classics aside, George Spiteri was already a dab hand at knocking through, building up and performing feats of engineering trickiness. ‘But, at points during this project, even I began to wonder if I’d taken on more than I could handle…’ he says with a smile.
Today, the interiors radiate serenity, with design inspiration from Brazil’s Jader Almeida and 19th-century France reflected back in sumptuous leather and antiqued mirror glass. All is calm, all is bright. But a year ago, it was a very different story. Before they could even think about paint swatches and choosing furniture, George and his wife Sarah had some heavy-duty building work to get through.
At first glance, the house didn’t look too difficult a proposition. Okay, so it was a dilapidated Victorian number, but it had a handsome façade and was slap bang at the heart of the couple’s favourite neighbourhood, close to London’s Portobello Road. However, says George, beneath the stucco surface lurked the stuff of a surveyor’s nightmares.
‘The roof had holes and, rather than replace the slates, the previous owner had slung up huge sheets of plastic inside to make a tent – it looked like a gigantic waterlogged hammock,’ says George. Then there was the small matter of a tree. A few years back, a wayward self-seeded oak had taken root in next door’s garden. But roots know no boundaries and had spread out, muscling their way into walls, burrowing deep into this house’s foundations.
‘Basically, the house’s back had been broken,’ says George. ‘It needed taking apart and shoring up.’ Several months of work saw all the internal walls removed, new foundations laid and a massive steel H-frame inserted inside the external walls. It was a nerve-wracking process: ‘You have to weaken a building in order to make it stronger,’ he explains. The end result not only created ‘an Iron Man of a house’ but also opened up a whole world of design possibilities.
‘With the internal walls down, I realised I could redraw the rooms exactly how we wanted,’ says George. ‘So the two main living floors now flow as open-plan spaces, which works far better for contemporary living.’ No clunky dividing beam between front and back – just an easy flow, adorned with authentic period architraves.
Redrawing the walls also meant George could address another surprise this unusual house had up its sleeve. ‘From the front, the house appears to be double fronted, while at the back it’s the same width as the rest of the houses on the terrace,’ he says. ‘So the footprint is triangular. You actually get a house and a half.’ George and his team rebuilt spaces so that this quirk is only apparent in certain smaller (and more functional) rooms, such as the master bathroom and the trapezium-shaped study.
Elsewhere – in the wide hallway and the main living areas – what mostly shines through is space and opulence. ‘My favourite stage of the rebuild was poring over drawings and floorplans, to work out the best layout,’ says George. ‘I devoted most of the first floor to a generous master suite and I nudged the hallway walls slightly to make the entrance bigger.’
The original house had a central staircase with beautifully turned banisters. Sadly, it wasn’t in good enough condition to keep, but George brought in an old-school carpenter to recreate it. ‘It was painfully slow work, but we now have a perfect replica, which helps light flow from the top-of-the-house skylight down into every floor,’ he says.
It was these architectural details that George wanted to celebrate. ‘With this kind of house, you want to hold on to its history – and then rework the interior so it works for life now,’ he says. In a similar vein, the old iron balconies at the front of the house were sandblasted back to their original pattern. ‘What had been thick globules of paint was restored to intricate detailing,’ says George.
Back inside, the living room now combines the best of period grandeur and modern design, while the kitchen-diner has a more urban feel, with concrete flooring flowing through to a chic, city-dwellers’ version of a garden room.
Sarah had more of a hand in the interiors, as George explains: ‘My natural habitat is the building site, making yes/no decisions. Not the gentler – and slower! – process of mixing materials, contrasting textures and creating moodboards. So we made a good team.’
Antique and vintage furniture was bought locally on Golborne Road, while the rugs were haggled over in Marrakech. ‘It’s not all about getting a bargain, but finding something you really love that holds good memories,’ says George.
Those woven rugs now work alongside plush velvets, sheenyshiny glass and gleaming brass to create a supremely comfortable home. ‘Layers of textures have brought this home to life,’ says George. ‘But I kind of like knowing that, beneath the soft surfaces, there lies a heart of steel…’
To learn more about George’s property company, visit sitwellinvestments.com
‘Our aim was elegant simplicity, but with added character from a couple Of Offbeat finds’