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Hurworth House

The historical interest of Hurworth House lies in its exemplary status as a modest Victorian gentleman’s racing stables. This building typology is illustrative of the history and development of flat racing in Newmarket.

A significant portion of the original house was essentially wasted space, with multiple hallways, underused cellular rooms, a maze of corridors, dead ends and right angle turns. The solution was to sweep away all these muddled spaces to create an entirely new sequence of interrelated spaces, as well as replacing the old extensions with a rational modern addition.

The new part of the house has a dramatic presence, and by building it in the same Cambridge brick as the historic house it becomes contextually responsive. Internally, it has the feel of a library, top lit by a long central skylight and lined with wall and ceiling panels in French polished walnut. It is a rationalist piece that compliments the main building.

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James Gorst’s work has helped to heal one of the most unnecessary and painful wounds in contemporary British architecture: between the traditionalists and the modernists. Like Louis Kahn in the United States or Peter Zumthor in Switzerland, Gorst reminds us that modernism can be beautifully reconciled with the underlying principles of classicism and that modern materials and idioms can carry all the elegance, dignity and grandeur associated with historical masterpieces.

Alain de Botton

© 2023 James Gorst Architects. All rights reserved.

Design: Tom Green Design. Build: Designagogo.