Dukes Avenue

Brick Manufacturer: Ketley Brick Company Limited

Architect: Mulroy Architects

Brickwork Contractor: Fussen Ltd

'Dukes Avenue’ is a luxury refurbishment and extension of a Victorian mid-terraced house located in the Muswell Hill Conservation Area in the London Borough of Haringey. As the house needed modernisation, the brief was to maximise the living areas within the property and to create a new basement with a cinema room, gym, a small utility room and a living room with bathroom.

Mulroy Architects’ design was for a deeper than usual basement, which extended across the whole of the existing building, increasing the internal floor area of approximately 85sqm by over 45%. The challenge was to ensure that the new rooms were light filled and felt part of the main house rather than as an under croft.

The key was to locate the new stair to the basement within with a purpose-designed atrium with high ceilings rather than tucking it beneath the existing stair to the first floor. This allowed light to flood into the building on both the ground and basement levels. 

A new courtyard adjacent to the stair would act as a focus for a basement cinema room and gym, allowing both rooms to be naturally ventilated.