Architecture Wednesday: Claremont Church

This converted chapel, close to the heart of the city of Bath, has been carefully restored to create a light-filled, voluminous family home set beneath original arched ceilings with over 3,500 square feet, five bedrooms and a generous rear garden.

Built in 1881 the Victorian chapel, has been updated and modified; its current owner spared improved the space’s thermal performance with secondary glazing added inside the windows in order to retain their elegant original frames and additional insulation alongside underfloor heating across the living spaces. A large round window at the front, complete with its original tracery, is fitted with stained glass designed by students from Bath City College in 1990 and, while the original proportions of the chapel have been preserved, two mezzanines were added to create additional living space and bedrooms.

A blue-painted arched doorway leads into a generous foyer with colorful original floor tiles and stained-glass windows. Beyond is the entrance hall, where tumbled oak floorboards begin and lead into the main living space: a triple-height room featuring an open-plan kitchen, dining and living spaces lit by the original tall windows. The kitchen has quartz countertops, a refined Lacanche stove, generous island and opens into a utility room, with further cabinetry and a second sink. On the other side is a sitting room space, with built-in cabinetry; a quiet place, perfect to curl up and read a book or watch a film.

A mezzanine level, which starts just underneath the striking stained-glass window, makes for another living area or study and provides views back across the ground floor. Below is a useful boot room, perfect for hanging coats and kicking off shoes, as well as a study and a guest powder room.

The mezzanine at the opposite end of the home is where you find the main bedroom, with double-height ceilings, dressing room and luxurious bathroom, with a freestanding bath set against Versailles parquet floors. There is another bedroom on this floor, also with a dressing room and a shower room.

From there, steps descend to three other bedrooms; one has an en suite with a shower, while the remaining two share a family bathroom. There is additional linen closet and a door that opens to the back garden.

The garden surrounds two sides of the house, providing a side entrance from the street. South-east-facing, it has exceptional views across Solsbury Hill, Prior Park, Bathwick Hill, central Bath and fields upon fields of green. Some mornings, the mist hangs in the valley until it burns off in the sun. The garden is partly paved, creating space for a table and chairs, and partly laid to lawn, framed by borders ready to be planted in the Spring. Two residents parking permits come with the house.

This is my kind of church, peaceful, calm, and home.

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