Village Housing

Jonathan Hendry Architects has created a ‘piece of village’ in Waltham, Lincolnshire

Photos
Jonathan Hendry Architects

Jonathan Hendry Architects has completed seven detached houses in Waltham, Lincolnshire, for developer Snape Properties. Located on the High Street close to the village centre, the sloping site was previously occupied by a large, white-rendered, pan-tiled, two-storey dwelling.

“We were faced with the problem of how to create a ‘piece of village’ and not just another housing development”, says practice principle Jonathan Hendry. “The scheme had to belong and have characteristics familiar to the village, yet remain clearly of its own time. The second challenge was how to do this with a developer.”

Although different in plan, section and elevation, the houses share a common palette of materials including, white rendered walls, slate-tiled roofs, and oiled hardwood doors and windows

Intended to provide an ‘organic’ extension to the High Street, the houses share a number similarities, while retaining their own individual plans, sections and elevations. Each dwelling has a double-gabled roof and central valley gutter to reduce its apparent overall height and mass. The form is common to farmhouses throughout the Lincolnshire Wolds, says the architect. External walls are finished in white-coloured through-render, in reference to the house that previously occupied the site. Recessed entrances lined with Lincolnshire limestone are combined with slate roofs and oiled hardwood doors and windows.

The house at the entrance to the site stands tall, giving the impression of a gatehouse. Projecting rendered walls create a threshold between the public and private realm, while also evoking a kitchen garden enclosure. “Natural materials used in conjunction with simple detailing and fenestration make an analogy to English garden cottages; dwellings that age gracefully and timelessly”, says Hendry. Responding to requests from local residents, a green slate roof makes further reference to the original house.

The majority of the existing trees have been retained and are combined with dense planting to demarcate the site boundary. Timber fences denote individual house plots. Living spaces within all but one of the dwellings are orientated towards the south, maximising the potential for solar gain and natural light.