Braeside Leafield Planning Statement

Braeside + Leafield, King Edward Road, Onchan, are a pair of semi-detached houses designed by the world-renowned Arts + Crafts architect Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott completed in 1896

Both dwellings were added to the Protected Buildings Register on 11 September 1989: RB_123 • Braeside ; RB_124 • Leafield {{image:245344}}

The purpose of this application is to seek consent under the Town + Country Planning Act 1999 and the Registered Building Regulations 2005 to:

01 Form a single dwelling from the two existing semi-detached dwellings

02 Extend the new dwelling to form ancillary accommodation within the curtilage of the existing yard and outbuildings at Leafield and to form a covered and attached swimming pool in the garden below the level of the ground floor of the existing dwellings

03 Demolish the two existing garages (both later additions) and build a replacement garage under a 'green roof' in the area between the house, driveway and King Edward Road

architects • designers

Methodology

Prior to commencing design, work was undertaken:

to survey + understand the existing buildings to identify those areas that are original and those compromised by alteration to consider built and published examples of Baillie Scott's work as precedent for the 'single dwelling' to inform and support our approach

Precedent_01

{{image:245346}} Shirley's Ylby, Cambridge • Baillie Scott c 1829 • extended HUDSON Architects • 2011 A modern addition to a Grade II listed property undertaken in the with English Heritage guidance

RIBA East • Commendation, Heritage Award 2011 RIBA East • Winner, Home Award 2011

Decisions were taken to:

Minimise new interventions and mitigate their impact wherever possible by careful design

Additions to the buildings would be legible and appropriate in scale and material ie: within the existing parts of the building they would carefully reflect the surroundings; extensions to the building would remain respectful in scale, form and material but also remain distinct and reflect the period in which they are being constructed

architects • designers

Precedent_02

BAILLIE SCOTT left the Isle of Man in 1901 to practice in Bedford He prepared and published designs for a house for an architect, presumably for himself and his family, a successor to the RED HOUSE Instead of building it he bought and restored two 19th century cottages, combining them into a single dwelling: Fenlake Manor

"It is essentially a house of small rooms, and the principal structural modifications consisted in forming a hall by the removal of a partition." (Houses + Gardens p280)

THE MANOR • FENLAKE nr BEDFORD

Although he completed a number of schemes consisting of semi-detached houses, Baillie Scott was scathing about this form of development From chapter 37, "Houses + Gardens" (1906): 'It generally represents a hesitating compromise which is fatal to success...' 'It represents a builder's expedient for making the most of his frontage...' '...built for those who cherish the illusion that a semi-detached house is necessarily superior to one in a terrace'

'If there is any rational excuse for the semi-detached... ...as a rule it is better to avoid the compromise it affords and to build either terraces or detached houses'

As published • Houses + Gardens 1906

As existing • 2013

Leafield is presumed to be largely original in plan One doorway has been opened out to form a new kitchen from the original scullery + larder The original kitchen now serves as a dining room

The plan of Braeside has been altered The enclosed yard, wc and coal store have been demolished and rebuilt to provide a larger kitchen The original kitchen now serves as a dining room

LEAFIELD

BRAESIDE

FIRST FLOOR

GROUND FLOOR