Benjamin Hale Architects extends light-starved Victorian home upwards and outwards


Welsh practice Benjamin Hale Architects has added two modern extensions – one made from pale brick, the other from black zinc – to a Victorian-era home in south London.

The end-of-terrace house is located in Dulwich and previously featured a dim and dated interior.

The ground floor extension accommodates a new kitchen

Working alongside local interior designer Hamish Vincent, Benjamin Hale Architects set out to bring natural light back into the plan and “engender a sense of calm and domesticity” throughout.

The practice started by adding a pale, clay-brick volume to the rear of the property, incorporating a neglected alley that sat to the side of the plot.

Kitchen interior of Crystal Palace Road house by Benjamin Hale Architects
Skylights and Crittall doors help brighten up the room

“An underused side return or side alley is a traditional feature of many traditional Victorian terrace homes,” the practice’s eponymous founder told Dezeen. “However, being on an edge plot offered a considerable advantage in this instance.”

Inside, the extension contains a modern kitchen complete with oak cabinetry, pale terrazzo flooring and a central counter with a built-in cooker, where inhabitants can prepare meals.

Kitchen interior of Crystal Palace Road house by Benjamin Hale Architects
Fluted tiles decorate the breakfast nook

A breakfast nook was set up towards the back of the room, its cushioned seating bench set against a fluted tile wall.

Sunlight streams into the room from a skylight created in the room’s upper corner and the Crittall doors that open onto the garden.

Dining room interior of Crystal Palace Road house by Benjamin Hale Architects
Eye-catching furniture pieces appear throughout the formal dining area

A new doorway links the extension to the formal dining room, where Vincent introduced a bold medley of furnishings. This includes a stripy timber table and a chandelier composed of a cluster of spherical bulbs.

As many of the home’s original period features had been removed over time, Benjamin Hale Architects reinstated a grand marble fireplace in the room.

Ornate coving was also fitted around the ceiling of the adjacent sitting area, which hosts a sofa and sculptural armchairs upholstered in creamy boucle.

An oak staircase with a slatted balustrade leads up to a zinc-clad dormer roof extension, added at the request of the owners who wanted the home to have extra sleeping quarters.

The space – which now serves as the primary bedroom – has wooden panels running around its perimeter and a large picture window that offers far-reaching views over the streets of Dulwich.

Bedroom interior of Crystal Palace Road house by Benjamin Hale Architects
Wooden panels envelop the principal bedroom

Ensuite facilities were integrated into the room alongside a freestanding bath, snugly positioned beneath the roof’s eaves and illuminated by a small skylight.

The project also saw Vincent infuse the property’s existing bedrooms with warmth and tactility, adding weathered stone pots, lantern-style lights, tobacco-hued surfaces and more.

Bedroom interior of Crystal Palace Road house by Benjamin Hale Architects
The room also has its own standalone bath

This isn’t the only Dulwich residence to recently undergo a revamp; a few months ago architecture studio Proctor & Shaw built a concrete extension for a terrace home in the affluent neighbourhood, better connecting it to its 57-metre-long back garden.

The photography is by Pierce Scourfield.



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