Jill Medinger[portfolio_slideshow id=5646]
An Unexpected Barn-Home in England
Manor House stable in the small village of Headbourne Worthy, near Winchester, England, was once a beautiful barn and the home of the winner of the 1946 Grand National, the UK’s greatest horse race. Sadly, the stable then remained unused and fell into a state of dilapidation.
Fortunately, architect Andy Ramus recognized its potential while refurbishing the property’s manor house. Using the concept of preserving history while making any new additions simple and pure, he transformed the decrepit building into an elegant and contemporary three-bedroom family home. An innovative arrangement of spaces uses the stable’s existing layout and maintains many of the original exposed-timber interior walls.These were cleaned, stripped, and restored to reveal an exquisite amount of detailing and craftsmanship.
Many of the existing features were refurbished and re-purposed for use in a home: the original horse troughs were cleaned and converted as sink basins, the old horse ties act as towel rings in the bathrooms, and original doors were preserved where possible to give a sense of period character. The building has superior insulation, and the heated, polished-concrete floor is highly functional, yet still recounts the stable’s agricultural history.
Architect
Andy Ramus
AR Design Studio, Winchester, UK
www.ardesignstudio.co.uk
Completion – March 2013
Photographer
Martin Gardner, martingardner.com