Home > Open House

Photographs: Jake Fitzjones

Peter and Julia Ackermann’s new Tudor-style home in Edgeware, Middlesex, was built to replace a far older home that was crying out for replacement.

“The house was in pretty poor condition, and was subsiding. It’s hardly surprising because the foundations were only two feet deep. Tiles had fallen off the roof, and the interior was not very usable for a family,” says Julia, the main driving force during the project.

The couple commissioned an architect to design the house, which occupies a similar footprint to their previous home, but by the time she had got it through planning, the relationship had grown rocky, and Julia and Peter parted company with her.

Her inflexibility caused many problems, and meant that while the external appearance of the house was perfectly in keeping with the architecture of the area, the interior did not reflect Peter and Julia’s aspirations.

“The architect’s plans had the interior on several different levels, which acted as dividing partitions even though it was open-plan,” says Julia. “Peter suggested that we had it all on one level, which would not only open up the space, it would also be safer for the boys.”

TOUCH OF GLAMOUR

The couple decided to commission a different designer to reconfigure the interior space, injecting glamour and making the ground floor one level, laid with Jerusalem limestone flooring throughout which has fossils visible on its surface.

With these plans in place, the family moved into rented accommodation nearby, which was to be their home for the next three years. “We could probably have moved in sooner,” says Julia, “but we decided to wait until it was finished, and now we don’t really like leaving!”



Julia’s brother-in-law Rajko, from Croatia, was hired along with a team of four builders to take on the project, using sub-contractors where necessary to carry out various parts of the build.

The block structure is faced with hand-made bricks from the York Handmade Brick Company, with feature oak beams on the façade and hand-made clay tiles on the roof.


Despite the scale of the project, the build went smoothly, with Rajko’s easy-going approach belying a meticulous attention to detail.  Rajko bridged the gaps between different stages of the project and was able to keep the momentum going, ensuring that everyone on site knew what they had to do and when.

“So much of a project is communication, and I asked questions all the time. Some of them may have seemed obvious, but if no one asks them, things can get missed,” says Julia, who worked alongside Rajko managing the project.

GOING UNDERGROUND

The team built a garden room first which they used as their site office, and then began digging the foundations, excavating down deep enough to include a basement. This is now a play area for the couple’s two sons, Joseph (13) and Samuel (10), and includes a pool table, tennis and table football, a cinema and a separate room for computer games.

It’s not only the boys though that get to have fun underground. Go through another door and there is a large cinema room for grown-ups – complete with large sofas, barrel ceiling, pillars, and a bar, with four chandeliers twinkling above it – a gym and a spacious shower room with a large hot tub.

The five-bedroom home has three studies, one on the ground floor and two on the top floor. Both Peter, a consultant, and Julia, an optician, sometimes work from home, and the boys needed somewhere quiet to do their homework. “Open-plan is lovely to live with, but sometimes you need somewhere quiet, away from hubbub of family life,” says Julia.

The Neil Lerner kitchen is smart and stylish, and is well equipped without too many showy gadgets, which is just as well as Julia loves to cook for large parties. Its light surfaces are complemented with black glass and stainless steel.

SPACE TO ENTERTAIN

The dining room is separated from the kitchen by a supporting wall that incorporates a contemporary fireplace dressed above with polished plaster.



The dining room is in a lean-to of sorts with a glazed roof, and seats up to 24 people, with folding sliding doors across the entire width of the room, opening onto the low maintenance but lush garden.

“It’s a great party house,” says Julia, smiling. “Not that we have that many parties, but we have family round for food at least once a week, often on a Friday, and it’s fantastic to have plenty of space.”

The ground floor has two living areas, one close to the kitchen for watching television, and one right at the front of the house for quiet times, where there is a also a Steinway grand piano. “I used to play piano when I was younger, and I am looking forward to picking it up again in the near future,” says Julia.

The piano was bought at an auction, which the couple visited purely to get inspiration, never dreaming that they would return with such a magnificent instrument. It was in a poor condition and needed extensive restoration, but now it looks as good as new and is a striking feature at the base of the impressive helical staircase.

The cast concrete was reinforced by the builder and covered with the same limestone flooring used for the ground floor, with sleek curved glass balustrading with wooden handrails, supplied by Bisca.



Upstairs the master bedroom has a generously proportioned en suite bathroom – complete with enormous bath and separate tiled wetroom shower – and a walk-in wardrobe.

The boys’ rooms have large murals painted on the walls – a stadium view at Arsenal football club for Joseph and spacemen for Samuel – and a jack and jill bathroom, accessed from both rooms.

The third storey has a spare room and, through the study, another secret study accessed through a door that is made to look like a bookcase.

The house is light, airy and cosy, but with elements of drama and intrigue. It’s a perfect family home, and one which Peter and Julia have no intention of leaving.