Simon Thornton Architect

Have a look at the street view of this Victorian era terrace house. It would be hard to imagine a more 'straight-laced' dwelling for the no-doubt highly respectable folk who first inhabited this house over a hundred years ago. But Victorian society was complex, and behind the respectable clothing and architectural facades life in the homeland and out in the colonies was as passionate and seamy as in any era. Literature was pre-occupied with the dark and savage and exotic, and the primitive cultures of the Empire were a source of fascination. It is this side of Victorian life which is repressed in the original architecture of this house, but which finds expression in the extension, designed with the help of architecture graduate Dianne Peacock. The kitchen in particular takes its inspiration from the forms of African shields, while the Cat Door shape evokes carved sculptural forms