Heritage v's contemporary details when extending

When extending a heritage home, one of the key considerations is marrying the grand old features of the home with the new extension.

If you’re extending a single or double fronted heritage home, the existing house will have features such as high ceilings, detailed cornices, architraves and ceiling roses. These are the beautiful details that you’ll want to restore or replace like-for-like when renovating.

However, when it comes to your extension, a lot of people struggle with the transition from the old part of the house to the new extension.

You can do one of two things.

1. Continue the features through to the extension for a more classic look throughout.

In our experience, this has to be carefully considered to be successful. If your home is a highly detailed Victorian for example and you want to achieve a classic extension with a nod to the old part of the house, it can work really well.

In this situation it’s not to say you can’t design a modern kitchen and living space (this can be a nice contrast in itself to the heritage details), but the design must be well thought out, rich in materials with some amazing features to all work in harmony.

Extension at our Armadale project

2. Contrast the old with the new

The other option that you see a lot is at a certain point, usually at the end of the hallway, go completely modern. The tricky part about this is you need a break point where you can stop the heritage skirting and cornice, and start your modern skirting (perhaps recessed) and usually ‘square set’ ceiling (no cornice). The break point might be a heritage arch at the end of your hallway or installing a large steel internal door at the end of the hallway can be a great solution.

For double fronted homes, a small walk way can break the old and the new and also flood the area with natural light.

Chat through these options with your designer or architect, or contact us to discuss your renovation.