Located on the western boundary of Essex, this non-listed former Vicarage was in desperate need of repair and renovation. Built around 1880, and designed by Ernest Lee in the Early English Style the property stands in grounds of just under an acre. The accommodation is arranged over three floors, including six bedrooms, study, sitting room, dining room and a large single storey kitchen/breakfast area. It is constructed of red facing brickwork, with vertical tile hanging to the first floor, all surmounted on a stone and flint plinth, under a traditional steeply pitched plain clay tiled roof.
Following the removal of the vegetation from the building it became clear the tile hanging, brickwork and tiled roof were in a very poor state of repair. Further inspection from scaffolding exposed serious cracks in all the brick chimney stacks. It was originally assumed the existing tile hanging would be nail fixed to timber battens, unfortunately all the tiles were bedded onto each other with cement mortar. This made it incredibly difficult to cut out any broken tiles and replace them. We found facing brickwork behind the tiles. Therefore the tile hanging might not be original, but added at a later date.
After discussions with the client concerning their requirements for a large modern-day kitchen breakfast area to make the best use of the south facing gardens, it was agreed to apply for demolition and rebuilding of the single-story extension. Planning permission was granted in the Spring of 2018.
By this time work had already started on the renovation of the external fabric. This included; insulation and re-tiling of the entire roof, repairs to the vertical tile hanging, brick repairs and re-pointing of all the facing brickwork, demolition and re-building of all the chimney stacks and the replacement of all the painted timber windows including slim-lite double glazing. All this work was carried out under a large fully tented scaffold.
The project was completed in 2019. We are delighted to hear the kitchen design was featured in the May 2021 edition of ‘Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms’. An extract of the feature is included in the gallery below.
