How an old school hall on a car park in Greenwich was transformed into a spectacular home — without an extension

It's difficult to imagine that Georgina and Mark Wright's family home in Greenwich could have once been overlooked. Admittedly, tucked away in a quiet cul-de-sac, it was never that noticeable.

And the street-facing exterior of this handsome Victorian former school hall was largely hidden since an unsightly car park had been tacked on to the pavement and almost abutted the front of the house.

What's more, the two-floor building, which is in the west Greenwich conservation area, had fallen into disrepair. Not that there's much evidence of this now: after a six-month refurbishment, its façade has been restored to reveal mellow, buttermilk-coloured bricks that allow Crittall-style windows with elegant black frames to stand out. 

The car park has been removed and replaced with a large, sunken courtyard with plants and trees.

The house's interior has been extensively altered, too. The ground floor now contains a huge open plan space incorporating living and dining areas and a streamlined kitchen. The lower-ground floor contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

In 2018 the Wrights hired Londonbased architecture firm The Paper House Project to undertake this work. It is known for retrofitting old buildings while preserving unique character. "They renovated our previous home, a former artist's studio in Bethnal Green," says Georgina, a lawyer.

For the Wrights, needing a bigger home in which to raise a family informed how they wanted the place to look. While appreciating the hall's pared-down, institutional aesthetic, they wanted it to feel cosy. "We were after a warm, homely, child-friendly environment," says Georgina.

That said, early on she and Mark, a graphic designer, had divergent views on how to make the most of the upper floor. "Mark wanted to add a roof terrace," explains Georgina. "We'd have had to lower the ceiling in the living area and I didn't want to sacrifice any space." 

In fact, this part of the building had a dropped Styrofoam ceiling. "We investigated what was above it,' recalls James Davies of The Paper House Project, who discovered a roof with wood beams and a skylight. Removing the dropped ceiling created a double-height space.

Deciding to capitalise on the soaring ceiling, the couple gave Davies "the impossible task of creating a mezzanine", remembers Georgina. He came up with a steel design with perforations that were big enough to allow lots of light to filter through them without compromising its structural strength. 

A staircase with a child-friendly glass balustrade leads up to the mezzanine. "When the skylight is open, the space feels like an open-air terrace," says Georgina.

The mezzanine has provided an extra floor that's multifunctional. She and Mark use it as a home office but it's roomy enough to accommodate a sofa, armchair and coffee table. The spot catches the late afternoon sun, making it perfect for drinks.

There are plenty of nooks on the lower floor, too, including a reading space and the courtyard, easily accessed from the bedrooms.

Rescued from obscurity and spared from dereliction, "the building has not only been preserved but its lifespan extended," says Davies.

Photographs by Rory Gardiner; interior styling by Emma Archer