Explore LSStriking A Balance: Renovating 18th C. Georgian Townhouse To Modern Standards

We completed a major restoration of a 1760 brick and flint built Georgian townhouse that in its time has been the Harbor Masters office, a cheap boarding house, a brothel, a pub, and a sailors home. Maybe it had been all at once; who really knows?

It was a ground up strip out and restore. The fun part was in getting in to the minds of the first owners. In their time they walked in to a modern house. Modern by the standard of the day which meant no thatch, no earth floors, no vermin, a water pump in the back yard.  With the restoration we want the home to be modern and comfortable by todays standards as well as retain the eighteenth century characteristics and charm. So the question became how do we restore this and to what era? 

This vexed Building Art for some time; it required a nice Merlot to help creativity. When all was said and done we renovated it as a modern house. Modern as in heated, safe, secure, insulated, low power requirement. Historic as in underfloor heating so no ducts or radiators, geothermal heat source so its green. Modern as in well illuminated but historic as in light fixtures and nearly all switches were subtly hidden. Modern as in high performance R30 insulation standards in the roof space but historic in that they were only 3/8 inch thick allowing retention of the old ships timbers used to construct the roof itself.

Note: Striking a balance between the charm of life during a simpler time and the comforts of modern living can be a challenge. Our experienced LS Renovations team, which specializes in historic renovations, doesn’t take this challenge lightly. It’s with a great deal of thoughtfulness that we restore homes to their former glory while creating a home that owners will for years to come.