Restoration & modernisation of a 16th Century Grade II listed cottage in Lewes.
Front door with unconvincing decorative hinge straps
Gloss black paint on this beam was later removed. All non-breathable paint had to be removed throughout to prevent problems with damp
Kitchen, notice the architrave around the cupboard under the stairs
The larder in the corner was removed, along with the radiators
The main kitchen windows
The blinds knocked back light and the plaster detail at the top of the wall was later changed
Stained scaffolding boards had been grip-filled to the sub floor
The entrance and hob area notice various items in front of the beam at the back
Showing various bits of boxing
Hob area offering not so much space
The left of the hob was almost completely wasted space
This area had significant damp issues under the floor
The sink too big for the space and back-breakingly low, and surface-mounted plumbing
Leaking sink didn’t help the damp issues in this area
The left string of the stairs was cut back to avoid the trip hazard
Handrail was retained, but remounted
The top step was higher by the thickness of the scaffolding boards, one of the biggest problems to overcome
Various bits of applied wood or electrics were replaced or moved
The toilet wall, along with all others, were removed on this floor
Lovely fireplace, shame not to see the left of it…
Notice step up into toilet
The wall was positioned during the ’50’s conversion right over the fireplace
Behind the cladding at the back was a lath & plaster wall
The brickwork back right is the side of the fireplace, later revealed
The window as it was, with not the nicest glass
This wall was pushed back into the bathroom to assist in creating a small sitting room
The bathroom door from the inside
The boiler cupboard came over the window, not so nice tiles covered up 6″ of useable space behind
Though the new bathroom was smaller, this has less feeling of space with the layout
All to go, though the paneling concept was retained
So much light was lost by the applied softwood, apart from the blinds
Detail of applied softwood & blind
Radiator was replaced with a far more useful towel rail
Not so nice having sharp corners in a bathroom
A bit of the possibly original, certainly hundreds of years old, floor
The boiler cupboard, with so much wasted space
The bedroom and scaffold board floor
The wardrobe interiors were just big enough to re-use
The radiator position prevented the bed from being against this wall
The lights were repositioned and the wall re-plastered
Again all the applied softwood was removed to reveal original mullions and allow more light into the room
Detail later much modified
The position of this wall was completely changed
The bottom of the stairs to the 2nd floor, bottom tread less than the others by the thickness of the scaffold boards
The top of the same stairs, a cupboard was later created to the left, only the corner in shot
The top of what became the cupboard
Notice the boxing hiding all the plumbing on the back wall, all removed
The door was retained, being old and appropriate for the house, all new doors were copied from this one
The window surround was completely removed and the wall re-plastered
I’ve tried to keep the approximate order of these photos the same as the finished photos, starting at the entrance and finishing with the top bedroom. To see the photos un-cropped, click on them to view in a separate ‘lightbox’. To view photos during the construction, click here and to see the finished project again, click here.
The house is likely to have been built in the 16th Century, though it’s possibly even older. The Pigeon House is one of 4 properties that were part of the same building until the 1950’s when the building was split into 4 separate dwellings. The building as a whole was once a coaching Inn and it is probable that the kitchen of The Pigeon House was the kitchen of the Inn. It is in the coolest part of the building, being East facing and has higher ceilings. The first floor would probably have been a guest bedroom with it’s own large fireplace, and warmth from the kitchen below. The construction photos nicely show what it might have been like. The stairs through the house were built during the conversion and it wouldn’t previously have been possible to access the floors at this end of the house.
