Dyson House, Studio & Gallery

“It was actually a pretty ugly building when we bought it” – Chris Dyson

This Spitalfields house of 1719 had, in its early years, been home to a clergyman. This Grade II listed house was bought by the Dyson family in 2005. It had most recently been a catering school which had closed following a fire. In the mid-19th Century the garden was covered by a single storey workshop.

The challenge was to replace the bad, to repair the damaged, and to create a home, an office and a gallery.

The front façade, rebuilt in a utilitarian idiom in the mid-20th Century was rebuilt to match how it may have been in 1719. A new space for the household kitchen was built on the roof – mimicking the area’s weavers’ lofts. Replica panelling and other details were introduced in rooms where they had been lost.

The work was commended in the Georgian Groups Architectural Awards, 2008