Blockmakers Arms
Hoxton, Hackney, London
2017-2021
The Blockmakers Arms is a Grade II listed former 19th-century public house located within the Regent’s Canal Conservation Area in Hackney, London. Having been converted into three flats in the 1970s and subsequently altered through a series of unsympathetic interventions, the building had lost much of its original spatial clarity and its relationship to the large courtyard at its rear.
The project reconfigures the building into a generous family duplex across ground and first floor, while retaining independent access to the existing second-floor apartment. The brief required resolving this dual occupancy while re-establishing the building’s connection to its external spaces.
A key move in the project is the removal of the external rear stair and its replacement with a new loggia, reconfiguring the rear elevation and restoring a clearer relationship between building and courtyard. Formed in load-bearing masonry, the loggia redefines the rear elevation and operates as a structure of multiple functions: it mediates a large new opening in the historic façade, enabling a double-aspect living space; it supports an external walkway connecting to the retained historic stair; and it establishes a sheltered threshold between interior and courtyard.
The interventions are deliberately restrained. New additions are constructed in handmade grey-brown brick and pigmented lime mortar, calibrated to complement the weathered nineteenth-century fabric without imitation. From the street, the building remains largely unchanged, with the principal transformation concentrated at the rear and within the internal spatial sequence.
Internally, the removal of modern partitions and suspended ceilings restores the volume of the former pub rooms. The spatial logic of the original building is reinforced through a combination of freestanding and integrated joinery, allowing the domestic programme to sit within a clearly legible historic framework.
Light, material continuity, and structural clarity guide the project. A restrained material palette establishes a calm domestic environment, while retained historic elements are reinterpreted within a unified interior language.
The project works through repair rather than replacement, retaining as much of the existing fabric as possible and limiting demolition to elements that obscured the legibility of the original building. The result is a coherent architectural response that reactivates both the building and its relationship to the courtyard.
Blockmakers Arms
Hoxton, Hackney, London
2017-2021
The Blockmakers Arms is a Grade II listed former 19th-century public house located within the Regent’s Canal Conservation Area in Hackney, London. Having been converted into three flats in the 1970s and subsequently altered through a series of unsympathetic interventions, the building had lost much of its original spatial clarity and its relationship to the large courtyard at its rear.
The project reconfigures the building into a generous family duplex across ground and first floor, while retaining independent access to the existing second-floor apartment. The brief required resolving this dual occupancy while re-establishing the building’s connection to its external spaces.
A key move in the project is the removal of the external rear stair and its replacement with a new loggia, reconfiguring the rear elevation and restoring a clearer relationship between building and courtyard. Formed in load-bearing masonry, the loggia redefines the rear elevation and operates as a structure of multiple functions: it mediates a large new opening in the historic façade, enabling a double-aspect living space; it supports an external walkway connecting to the retained historic stair; and it establishes a sheltered threshold between interior and courtyard.
The interventions are deliberately restrained. New additions are constructed in handmade grey-brown brick and pigmented lime mortar, calibrated to complement the weathered nineteenth-century fabric without imitation. From the street, the building remains largely unchanged, with the principal transformation concentrated at the rear and within the internal spatial sequence.
Internally, the removal of modern partitions and suspended ceilings restores the volume of the former pub rooms. The spatial logic of the original building is reinforced through a combination of freestanding and integrated joinery, allowing the domestic programme to sit within a clearly legible historic framework.
Light, material continuity, and structural clarity guide the project. A restrained material palette establishes a calm domestic environment, while retained historic elements are reinterpreted within a unified interior language.
The project works through repair rather than replacement, retaining as much of the existing fabric as possible and limiting demolition to elements that obscured the legibility of the original building. The result is a coherent architectural response that reactivates both the building and its relationship to the courtyard.
Clients' view:
"What we knew at the start of this project is that we wanted to retain the character of the old pub and give it a new relationship with the street and the garden now that it’s a house. Erbar Mattes took us from that instinct through to a concept design and then supported the delivery of every detail, using the large window over the staircase to create a view towards the changing life of a grand tree and beyond it the sky; removing a division on the ground floor to give the living space a dual aspect; creating a new walkway on the first floor, which functions as both a terrace and a walkway, above a loggia that structures the rear elevation as well as creating shade and privacy.
We love this house as it functions and looks now. From the outside, the brick, the lines and the interstices draw our eyes in day after day and make this home. Inside, the play of light and shadow, changing through the day and the year, combined with the different views of the garden and the street, keep us engaged with the world. Our home is where we start to interrelate to the world each day and the architecture expresses that connection for us."
RIBA London Award 2023 – Winner
British Homes Awards 2023
'Home Transformation of the Year' – Winner
Erich Mendelsohn Award 2023 for Brick Architecture – Winner Gold
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Clients' view...
"What we knew at the start of this project is that we wanted to retain the character of the old pub and give it a new relationship with the street and the garden now that it’s a house. Erbar Mattes took us from that instinct through to a concept design and then supported the delivery of every detail, using the large window over the staircase to create a view towards the changing life of a grand tree and beyond it the sky; removing a division on the ground floor to give the living space a dual aspect; creating a new walkway on the first floor, which functions as both a terrace and a walkway, above a loggia that structures the rear elevation as well as creating shade and privacy.
We love this house as it functions and looks now. From the outside, the brick, the lines and the interstices draw our eyes in day after day and make this home. Inside, the play of light and shadow, changing through the day and the year, combined with the different views of the garden and the street, keep us engaged with the world. Our home is where we start to interrelate to the world each day and the architecture expresses that connection for us."
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+44 (0)20 3865 8066