Architecture Wednesday: St. John Street Loft

I love a  good loft and this one, a Victorian warehouse loft apartment in Clerkenwell, has been sensitively remodeled by Emil Eve Architects to create a rich and layered dwelling that retains the industrial character of the building while bringing it into the 21^st century.

The apartment was purchased as a large empty shell, consisting of an industrial palette of exposed brickwork walls and columns and board-marked concrete ceiling slab but then the architect created a series of contemporary rooms: a library foyer, dressing room, bathroom, primary with en suite, kitchen and pantry, and great room. Each was conceived as an independent room with bespoke timber joinery and ceramic tiling, while the existing brickwork and concrete ceilings and posts were left exposed.

You enter the apartment directly into the library space, with bookshelves and hidden storage lined entirely in solid European oak cabinetry; large format terrazzo tiles pick up the warm oak tones and align with the oak paneling. There are shifts in floor surfaces at each threshold to delineate a change in both atmosphere and function; there is oak chevron parquet in the living and sleeping spaces and a lighter terrazzo tile in the bathroom. Sliding oak pocket doors enable these doorways off the library to be opened fully, creating lateral views from one end of the apartment to the other; when closed, the library interior becomes a book-lined sanctuary.

At the west side of the apartment is a large open-plan kitchen, dining, and living space that enjoys afternoon light and a view of busy St John Street. The kitchen is designed to be distinct from the existing brick shell with its lime-washed birch and a large gray Valchromat island and stunning green tile backsplash.

On the east side, a spacious bedroom and flexible second bedroom, which doubles as an office and home-gym, face the sunrise, and a quieter  residential street. The use of lime-washed birch cabinetry, as in the kitchen, set against the rich oak parquet flooring, continues in the dressing room and bath; in the primary bedroom a natural clay plaster softens the exposed brickwork walls.

It's old and new, rustic and sleek, historic and modern and if I had the coins …

Click to emBIGGERate …

Dwell

Emil Eve Architect