Historic canal house

CONTEMPORARY COMFORT

The renovation of a canal-side property located on the north of Utrecht’s city centre presented a number of obstacles. Since the seventeenth-century house was a listed building, its historic exterior had to remain unaltered. Yet, while paying heed to all the applicable regulations, a radical renovation took in which the space was completely stripped bare, whilst authentic features were retained – and even reintroduced.

The visually dominant window frames and an old fireplace, for example, have been restored to their former glory. And whilst the interior was designed with modern-day comfort in mind, this did not happen at the expense of the building’s past. The front and rear sections of the property have been connected by an impressive staircase, and the ground-floor corridor reveals the building’s true depth. Both the office space downstairs and the living area on the floors above are open-plan.

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Every detail has to be just right, both technically and aesthetically.