Peter Womersley's High Sunderland restored by Loader Monteith
Young architecture studio Loader Monteith restores Peter Womersley's High Sunderland, a house designed for textile designers Bernat and Margaret Klein in the Scottish Borders
![restored High Sunderland house](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/voWFZZVsLR8SQEhVtzdqsJ-415-80.jpg)
High Sunderland, an elegant midcentury home in the Scottish Borders, originally designed in 1957 by British modernist architecture master Peter Womersley for celebrated textile designers Bernat and Margaret Klein, has been restored to its former glory, courtesy of Scottish architecture studio Loader Monteith. The Glasgow-based practice, founded just in 2016 by architects Matt Loader and Iain Monteith, jumped at the opportunity to tackle the important works that would bring this piece of 20th-century architecture back to life, following weather and fire damage in 2017.
'We are hugely privileged to work on a project like High Sunderland; it was a daunting, sobering, and thoroughly enjoyable project to be a part of. I say a part of, because the whole consultant and client team worked well together to restore what we all recognise as a precious example of modernist architectural history,' says Loader.
The home was Womersley's first-ever residential commission and its creative clients lived there until they passed. Long, low and distinctly transparent (which brought no privacy issues, seeing as the house was located in the heart of a larger, woodland plot in the countryside with no immediate neighbours), High Sunderland was lovingly nicknamed ‘The See-Through House.’
The architecture team worked closely with conservation specialists to ensure the historical gem remains in keeping with its original design and period elements are restored carefully and faithfully. Part of Loader Monteith's works were a series of invisible updates, which cleverly added eco-friendly features to the existing structure, ensuring it is as future-proofed as possible for its new owners. Insulation was added; an air source heat pump now sits on the slightly redesigned roof; and frame elements were either restored or replaced, where they were completely destroyed by fire, all as true as possible to the original construction details, which Loader Monteith's in-house field expert Iain King located in a 1959 Swiss periodical.
'Any proposal of a rigorously Miesian-planned modernist house like High Sunderland needs to be addressed in a similar manner – with rigour and meticulous attention to detail. Our approach for both the restoration of the fire-damaged interior and in developing proposals which required change and adaptation was to be as imperceptible or ‘invisible’ as possible while maximising the improvement to the fabric and reducing the energy consumption of the house. Otherwise, we risked negatively impacting the architectural integrity and significance of the building,’ says King.
Instead of creating an obvious distinction between old and new, Loader Monteith worked with the midcentury home's strong character and fabric to offer a new lease of life to High Sunderland, maintaining its strong identity. This approach also allowed the original owners’ presence to live on, as the team kept, for example, the brush strokes found during construction, where Bernat cleaned his paint brushes.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Tour the Natural History Museum’s new gardens, a Jurassic lark in London
The Natural History Museum in London has unveiled two new gardens, with resident dinosaurs, after a transformation led by architects Feilden Fowles
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Drama Republic moves into a colourful, handcrafted workspace in London
For the new creative HQ of production company Drama Republic, Emil Eve Architects remodels a warehouse into office space in London’s Holborn
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Hideaway House in London features timber panelling inspired by the New York hospitality scene
The elegantly refurbished Hideaway House by Studio McW in London features timber panelling inspired by Philip Johnson’s The Four Seasons Restaurant
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
‘Modern Buildings’ tours south-east London through a guide to post-war Blackheath and Greenwich
‘Modern Buildings: Blackheath and Greenwich’ is a detailed survey of a London borough’s rich trove of new modernist architecture
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Triangle House invites you to its inner world of colourful surprises
Triangle House by Artefact is a private home in Epsom, outside London, combining Caribbean style, colour and functionality
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Tour the refreshed Saint Andrew Holborn: an icon reveals its crisp new interior in London
DaeWha Kang reimagines Saint Andrew Holborn church through a sensitive architectural solution that blends tradition and modernity in London
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Suffolk house by Studio Bark pairs a fresh visual language with low-energy design
Suffolk house Water Farm is off-the-grid but defiantly on the map, a bold new object in the landscape with a strong visual impact and minimal carbon footprint
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Westminster Coroner's Court renovation delicately blends moments of softness and austerity
Westminster Coroner's Court gets a refresh and addition, courtesy of Lynch Architects and artist Brian Clarke
By Ellie Stathaki Published