Carmody Groarke’s north London house features robust brick massing and voluminous interior spaces

Buildings.

Photos
Helene Binet

Designed by Carmody Groarke, Highgate House is a four-bedroom detached dwelling sited in a leafy suburb of north London. The 525-square-metre project is configured so as to forge a strong relationship between the external form and internal spatial composition.

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The plan is organised around a large double-height hall. Fluid, open-plan family spaces occupy the ground floor and more private cellular rooms are on the upper floor. To the south of the hall is a swimming pool, while to the north and east are the garage, kitchen, living and dining rooms. A generous first-floor gallery provides views down into the hall and access to the bedrooms.

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The treatment of thresholds between interior and exterior space varies greatly in scale and proportion according to each room’s physical and visual connection to the street, garden and Highgate Wood beyond. 

Intended to complement the suburban context as well as reinforce associations with traditional crafting, load-bearing brick is used extensively both inside and out. Bold massing is combined with large, recessed windows to create an abstract aesthetic. Surface articulation is provided by an off-set bond and areas of hit-and miss brickwork. The bricks themselves are hand-made and have a rich warm colour.

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Credits

Architect
Carmody Groarke
M&E engineer
Environmental Engineering Partnership
Contractor
New Wave London
Landscape
Arne Maynard Garden Design
Bricks
Petersen
Travertine
Bianco Rapollano
Venetian polished plaster
Marmorino
Sliding doors, windows
Skyframe