The most amazing conversions from the House & Garden archive
The hardest type of house project to undertake is, without a doubt, a conversion of any kind. Whether that's taking an old barn and turning it into an open plan home or rescuing a crumbling chapel to create a sanctuary, it is a timely, expensive and difficult process. However, the results can be simply spectacular when a building is given a new life and a second chance. We've gathered the most astonishing conversions from our archive, which might just persuade some readers to buy a derelict convent in the middle of Italy and make it a home.
MONTSE GARRIGA GRAU1/22An abandoned cowshed in rural Spain transformed into a glorious country house by Madrid-based interior designer, Belén Domecq
When Madrid-based interior designer Belén Domecq was converting what is now her weekend bolthole near Toledo, she wanted to create something organic that felt as if it had 'grown up from the ground'.
MONTSE GARRIGA GRAU2/22Reflecting the colours of the landscape, she used local materials, including granite from a nearby quarry and lime and chalk found in the soil for the exterior walls. She added two wings at the rear, giving it a ranch feel, and furnished the house with a mix of vintage design classics, antiques and finds from her travels alongside new pieces.
MONTSE GARRIGA GRAU3/22
Michael Sinclair4/22Jeremy Rothman and his wife Anna's remarkable transformation of a former cowshed into a timeless, elegant house
Within a remarkable 10 weeks, Jeremy Rothman and his wife Anna converted this former cowshed, previously used as an office and a workshop, into the beginning of a family home. A giltwood furniture restorer and maker, Jeremy says that he treated the conversion much like his work by 'cutting out all the bad bits and creating a clean palette to build on'. Stud walls were removed and insulation added, along with oak floorboards and underfloor heating. Removing the ceiling revealed the original beams, which lends an airy feel to the main space containing the kitchen, dining area, drawing room and study. These are divided by half-walls and a bookcase, made 20 years earlier for a previous home of the couple. The result is a grand but comfortable space that showcases the bones of the building.
Michael Sinclair5/22Thea Speake's clever conversion of a farm outbuilding into an elegant, unfussy country house
When Thea Speake and her husband Jack acquired an agricultural building on his family's land in Wiltshire, it lacked any amenities. It was just a shell, with a roof clad 15 years previously by Jack's parents using reclaimed red clay tiles.
Michael Sinclair6/22The L-shape footprint of the building could not be changed so, Thea explains, 'rigorous spatial planning' was needed. Downstairs, limestone flooring runs from the entrance to the kitchen to make the transition between spaces seamless.
Michael Sinclair7/22Having added an upper floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom in each wing, she made every inch count by tucking beds and baths under sloping ceilings. Thea was working for Rose Uniacke at the time and the project reflects many of the skills she acquired, including how to mix antiques and bespoke furniture, and create elegant colour combinations.
Mark Anthony Fox8/22Anna Haines transforms a run-down stable into a bijou guest wing
In the grounds of a 19th-century former vicarage in Somerset sits this little jewel. The two-storey building was converted as part of the renovation of the main house and was decorated by Anna Haines in a collaboration with Ailtire Architects (based in Bath at the time). The space has been designed to be functional, with somewhere to eat, somewhere to wash and somewhere to sleep.
Mark Anthony Fox9/22Wanting to retain the bones of the building and create interiors that felt as though they had always been there, Anna chose limewash for the walls and used furniture repurposed from the main house - including the Aga and the dining table in the kitchen. While a rickety ladder was replaced with a staircase, the stable's original paver floors were retained and the floorboards upstairs were replaced only where they were unsalvageable. ‘We really wanted to respect the fabric of the building and give it a very lived-in feel,’ explains Anna.
Michael Sinclair10/22The duo behind Pinch turn an ice cream factory into a modern country house
Not consciously in the market for a new project, the furniture designers Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon nevertheless fell for the possibilities offered by Devon farm buildings once used as an ice-cream factory. The resulting interiors reflect their great passion for detail, materials and craftsmanship.
Michael Sinclair11/22One Sunday morning, Russell Pinch found himself browsing properties and came across a dilapidated ice-cream factory not far from the south Devon coast, with planning permission for conversion into a family home. ‘We weren’t in the market for a project,’ says his wife Oona Bannon. ‘We had already given 10 years of our life to building a house in France.’ But, a few days later, they drove down to Devon – ‘just to have a peek’. What they found, tucked in a valley near Torquay, would have held little promise to most: a cob barn strewn with ivy and some rickety lean-tos. But Oona and Russell, founders of furniture company Pinch – which celebrates its 20th birthday this year – could see the ‘monastic beauty’ of the barn, with its soaring ceiling and curved wall.
Paul Massey12/22The Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury's restoration of the stables at St Giles House
St Giles House is a stately home in Dorset, on whose estate there are many outbuildings. Over time, the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury are slowly doing them up while retaining their history and charm. The shining example of this is the restoration of the stable block into a set of holiday rentals.
Paul Massey13/22Here, a bathroom has been created in the adjacent stall to its bedroom. To not shy away from the building's character is one thing, but to make partitioned dwellings suitable for residents with two legs rather than four achieves new heights of creativity.
Paul Massey14/22As it is meant to act as a party house where most guests will stay only a few nights, it was important it should feel like an experience and be exciting. A corner manger has been converted into a slate-topped bedside table in this ground floor bedroom, which has its bathroom in an adjacent loosebox. The blind is in ‘Kashida’ by Zoffany – a crewelwork design in wool on heavy cotton, used in several of the bedrooms, and the iron four-poster is by Francis Russell.
Simon Watson15/22A mother & daughter's restoration of a 16th-century Tuscan convent
This formerly derelict convent outside the tiny medieval hill town of Pitigliano in southern Tuscany was rumoured to be the work of the Florentine architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who designed Palazzo Farnese and Villa Madama in Rome. It had been uninhabited for 60 years when Holly Lueders and her daughter Venetia Sacret Young bought it as a project. Their aim was not to restore the house to its original state, but to reveal its intrinsic character. ‘We took away everything that had been added in the past 100 years. Beauty was more important than any amenity.’
The building is still entered from the garden via the tinaio, where the monks used to make and store wine. Some of the original wine barrels can be seen in the dining area, where the table is also made of chestnut.
Nathalie Krag17/22The late architect Bruno Sacchi's medieval tower in Florence
A small medieval borgo comprising a tower and three internal courtyards, Torre di Sopra dates from the twelfth century. The tower and courtyards were in total disrepair and were being used for agricultural purposes, housing cattle and chickens when Bruno Sacchi and his wife Jane bought it in the 1970s.
Nathalie Krag18/22
Michael Sinclair19/22A Victorian water tower transformed into a modern home
Leigh Osborne's plan for what was a crumbling, at risk building was a radical reimagining: a unique house with just one room on most of its nine floors. 'There were bits falling off it,' he recalls. 'The risk was that it would have been knocked down.'
Michael Sinclair20/22
Photo Salva López / courtesy of gestalten, Ricardo Bofill, gestalten 201921/22Ricardo Bofill and La Fábrica, the cement factory that became his astonishing home
La Fábrica is an abandoned cement factory outside Barcelona. The colossal (and ever ongoing) project saw the architect Ricardo Bofill transform the existing property into a pioneering studio, with his family’s living space nestled inside.
Photo Salva López / courtesy of gestalten, Ricardo Bofill, gestalten 201922/22Bofill first encountered the 31,000-square-meter (322,917-square-foot) factory on a drive around the Catalan suburbs. He had been looking for a property that would allow him to construct both a spacious office for the workshop and an ample home for himself and his family. “In the Renaissance and Baroque periods, somebody would turn up and add a new bit to an existing building that remained in place. I wanted to repeat this experience, only not with a normal building, but the most complicated one, a cement factory,” he says.
