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Wakelins

Along with a significant new extension, this project involved the restoration and revival of a Grade II listed house in rural Suffolk. The original farmhouse was an amalgamation of a number of smaller cottages that had been spliced together and extended in Victorian times and then extended with lean-to additions during the Seventies. The project began by addressing the challenge of reordering and updating these spaces to create an elegant series of contemporary living spaces.

The new two storey addition offers a linear, modern form in combination with crafted interiors, as well as internal shifts in volume. The modern addition has been clad in timber, softening the exteriors, while the geometry has been softened with two eroded glass corners.

The lower floor of the new addition features a sitting room/library, overlooking the gardens, as well as a study alongside. The upstairs segment holds the master suite, while another three bedrooms are situated on the upper level of the Tudor farmhouse. There is much in the way of integrated, crafted elements throughout, such as bookcases, panelling, storage cupboards, dressing tables, all helping to simplify and unify the interiors, as well as adding to the overall functionality of Wakelins.

“I have worked with James Gorst Architects for more than 20 years... the result was one of the most striking country houses of the last decade.”

Richard I. Morris Jnr, Client
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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

© 2025 James Gorst Architects. All rights reserved.

Design: Tom Green Design. Build: Designagogo.