Commendation for best conversion
Shell suites
It is unusual to have two church conversions in the same year, but where Rhynd Church is a small country church in Scotland that has been converted into a single house, this church on the corner of Westbourne Grove and Ledbury Road, London, is a large church that has been converted into 14 apartments, seven of which are duplexes, as a result of radical alterations, including the insertion of two new floors in the church itself and the construction of underground parking in the basement, with a space for every apartment.
Westbourne Grove Church is not a listed building, which is why the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea’s planners did not object to it being altered. In fact, the church is not completely redundant. It is an evangelical charismatic church, which met in a nearby church while its own building was being converted, but it retained part of the original church hall for its own services.
Manhattan Loft Corporation, who have been involved in church conversions before, has retained the main Victorian features such as the rose windows in all the third-floor apartments, and the octagonal towers at each corner of the church, which have been turned into unusual small rooms.
All the apartments were sold in shell form at prices from £500,000 to £1.5 million, leaving the buyers to fit them out to their own requirements, thought all the shells were fully serviced with mains services, and connections for telephone, broadband, cable and satellite television, but not with any interiors fixtures or fittings – not even internal staircases for the duplex apartments, which is why none in shown on the floorplans of the largest duplex penthouse illustrated here.
The photographs show some of the apartments after being fitted out. The standard of interior design is high, but apart from the original windows, there is little feeling of being in what was once a church. However, by converting it rather than demolishing it, a local landmark has been retained to give a sense of place to future generations.
HomeBuilder: MANHATTAN LOFT CORPORATION
12 Queen Anne Street, London W1G 9AU
Tel 020 631 1888 Fax 020 631 0933
Contact: Geoffrey Flower, Project Director
Email: geoff@manhattanloft.co.uk
Website: www.manhattanloft.co.uk
Architects: STEPHEN IBBOTSON ARCHITECTS
14 Waterside, 44-48 Wharf Road, London N1 7UX
Tel 020 7253 5577 Fax 020 7253 5588
Contact: Stephen Ibbotson, Project Director
Email: stephen@siarch.com
Photography: RICHARD KEIR/GRANT SMITH (020 7462 3528)