In pictures: Neil Dusheiko Architects Church House – context and craft in Cambridgeshire family home reworking

Neil Dusheiko Architects has completed the extension and refurbishment of a historic house in South Cambridgeshire, along with the reconfiguration of its former coach house, to create a long-term family home shaped as much by memory and place as by material craft.

The site sits within a conservation area directly opposite the Grade II* listed All Saints Church, and the practice has used that proximity as the project’s organising idea. A new single-storey brick and glass rear extension pivots the plan towards the church spire, while the reworked coach house at the bottom of the garden picks up the same visual conversation – drawing the three buildings into a cohesive composition.

The clients, Susie and Jonathan Manning, both work in fashion and previously lived in London. Susie grew up in the area and her father, an architectural historian, took her to visit churches as a child, fostering a lasting interest in church architecture. With three children aged 15, 13 and 11, the couple wanted a home that could hold the family for the long term – and that was rooted in the place they had chosen. They appointed Neil Dusheiko Architects after seeing the practice’s work in a neighbouring village.

The new extension is the centrepiece of the scheme. Positioned to the rear, it preserves the formal front elevation of the house while opening it up to the garden and establishing a direct line of sight to the church spire. Large-format glazing pulls light deep into the plan, and the floor level is dropped slightly to align with the garden and maintain privacy from the adjacent churchyard.

Materially, the extension responds to its neighbours. Yellow Cambridge stock brick and flint roofing nod to the church and to vernacular detailing found locally. Exposed rafters and a measured ceiling rhythm in the dining space echo both the church nave and timber-framed coach house, translated into a contemporary domestic register.

Internally, the ground floor has been reorganised around a clearer sequence from entrance to garden. The toilet has been relocated to free up the main hall, which now operates as a central circulation spine. Kitchen, pantry and dining are arranged as a single open volume with controlled views to the church beyond. In the kitchen appliances are concealed and cabinetry detailed to read as freestanding furniture.

Reclaimed brick, oak joinery, brass fittings and handmade light fixtures lend the rooms a tactile, considered feel. Upstairs, the principal bedroom has gained a new ensuite, while original sash windows and cornices have been retained to preserve the character of the older fabric.

At the end of the garden, the original coach house has been reconfigured to serve as a flexible playroom, studio and garden room. A new extension replaces a deteriorating lean-to and incorporates full-height glazing, an oriel window and a green roof. The timber structure and roof profile echo both the main house extension and the church, completing the three-way visual exchange that drives the scheme.

Environmental performance has been threaded through the project via improved insulation, high-performance glazing, rooflights for natural ventilation, and thermally efficient construction.

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Source: Taran Wilkhu

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