Glass House on Swain’s Lane

Glass House on Swain’s Lane

London-based architects Eldridge Smerin have completed a house overlooking a cemetery in London, UK. The house has two distinct facades: the side facing the cemetery is mostly glazed, while the street-facing elevation is fabricated from black granite, translucent glass and black steel panels. When Eldridge Smerin had investigated options for either retaining the corroding steel structure or for replacement, it was clear that to restore the Winter house would have required complete reconstruction and would have compromised the greater potential for a new house on such a unique site.

The resulting new house is located on the footprint of the existing house. It is set over four floors with a generous proportion of living to bedroom space including balconies, terraces and a sizable sliding glass rooflight enabling the top floor to become an open-air court. To the street a sheer façade of honed black granite, translucent glass and black steel panels set flush to one another echoes the massiveness of the cemetery wall.

This gives the house an air of mystery and intrigue whilst also making reference to the monumental masonry of the cemetery. The use of a concrete frame with a high quality exposed finish internally also allows a more sustainable environmental strategy for the house to be developed than the lightweight construction of the original house allowed.