Completed project

Cranston House

Canterbury

Architect: Emma Tulloch Architects
Landscape: Jack Merlo Landscape Design
Photography: Peter Clarke
Builder: Siji Projects
Scope: Heritage restoration · Basement construction · Large-scale extension · Complete landscape package

The project

A c1900 home, seamlessly extended

Cranston is a c1900 transitional Edwardian residence in Canterbury, set on a large garden estate near Maling Road. The original rooms carry the period in full, with high strapped ceilings, open fireplaces and leadlight windows.

Emma Tulloch Architects designed its next chapter. A large contemporary extension over a new basement, joined to the original house so the two read as one. The heritage street face is left intact. Behind it, the home opens to garden, pool and tennis court, with landscape by Jack Merlo Landscape Design.

Our work was to build that vision without showing the join. We restored the original fabric, formed the basement beneath it, and detailed the meeting of old and new so the transition reads exactly as Emma drew it.

The restored c1900 frontage of Cranston House at dusk — The restored frontage at dusk

The brief

The street face holds, the new work sits behind

The design keeps the heritage presence of the house intact from the street. The new work sits behind and below it. A basement, a rear extension opening to the garden and pool, and interiors resolved to a fine level of detail.

Restoration work ran the full depth of the original building. Masonry, render, roofing and original openings were brought back carefully rather than replaced.

Restored interior openings with new steel-framed glazing — New steel-framed glazing within the restored fabric

Steel-framed glazed doors set within restored masonry arches — New steel-framed glazing within the restored fabric

The challenge

A basement behind a retained heritage structure

Excavation, retention and new structure were staged to protect the original building, with temporary works coordinated around fabric that could not be replaced.

The junction between restored and new construction carried the highest detailing risk. Setting out was checked and checked again so the transition reads as the architect intended. Deliberate, clean and quiet.

The basement excavation during construction, with the retained heritage house behind — During construction, the basement excavation behind the retained house

The contemporary rear extension and pool seen from the garden — The rear extension and landscape by Jack Merlo Landscape Design

The curved stair in timber formwork during construction — The curved stair, formed in concrete and timber, finished in Venetian plaster

The finished curved Venetian plaster stair seen from below — The curved stair, formed in concrete and timber, finished in Venetian plaster

The craft

Detail carried through every trade

Joinery, stone and plaster were coordinated from shop drawings through to installation. Where materials meet, the junctions were drawn, agreed and built once.

The same discipline ran through services. Lighting, heating and ventilation are present in every room and visible in none of the photography. That is the point.

Kitchen joinery in pale timber with stone benchtops — Kitchen and butler's kitchen joinery

Vein-matched stone benchtop and tapware detail in the butler's kitchen — Kitchen and butler's kitchen joinery

The rear of Cranston House at dusk with the tennis court in the foreground

Bathroom with full-height stone and timber joinery — Stone wet areas and the timber-lined sauna

The timber-lined sauna — Stone wet areas and the timber-lined sauna

Over the site during construction, the new work beside the original house

The outcome

One house, two eras, no seam in the experience

The completed house moves from restored Edwardian rooms to contemporary living spaces without losing its composure. The garden, pool and tennis court complete the architect's setting for it.

Emma Tulloch Architects have since put the working relationship on the record, and the house carries the result.

The pool and restored house seen together from the rear garden

Detail notes

Post-tensioned concrete slab to the new structure
Curved staircase formed in concrete, framed in timber, then lined and finished in Venetian plaster
Custom curved handrail designed for the project by Emma Tulloch Architects, built and installed in house by Siji carpenters
Steel-framed glazing within restored masonry openings
Vein-matched stone throughout, with formed stone sinks
Full-height stone to bathrooms
A timber-lined sauna