MELNER ·
Nightingale
Square
A Victorian townhouse in Balham — reimagined from ground floor to garden. Structural reconfiguration, rear extension, bespoke interiors, and a new garden room set within a fully redesigned landscape.
01 — Overview
A Victorian home
opened up to
light and garden
Nightingale Square sits in one of Balham's most sought-after conservation areas. The brief was clear: rearrange and extend the ground floor to suit a growing family, integrate the rear garden into everyday life, and do it all with warmth — exposed brick, oak, and natural stone rather than the clinical minimalism these projects so often default to.
Melner delivered the full structural and fit-out programme, working closely with Locus Design who provided both the architecture and interior design. Walls were removed, new steel installed, and the rear of the house was opened entirely with a slim-line conservatory extension that frames the garden from every angle.
The garden itself was fully redesigned — new landscaping, a green living roof over the garden room, and Portland stone paving throughout — creating a seamless connection between inside and out.
02 — The Interiors
Warmth in every surface — exposed brick, solid oak, natural stone.
The material palette was deliberately chosen to age well and feel lived-in from day one. London stock brick left exposed on the original party walls anchors the space in its history. Overhead, solid oak ceiling beams bring warmth and grain. Portland stone flows from the kitchen worktops out through the garden doors and onto the external paving — one material, one continuous surface, inside to out.
“The house moves from traditional at the front — original reception rooms, period detailing — through to an entirely contemporary, open arrangement at the rear. The garden room is the final, most intimate space in that sequence.”
The structural works were extensive. Multiple load-bearing walls on the ground floor were removed and replaced with concealed steel beams to create the open-plan kitchen, dining, and living space that now forms the heart of the house. New foundations were poured for the rear extension, and the existing sash windows were replaced with bespoke new units to match the originals.
Every piece of joinery — the kitchen cabinetry, built-in storage, shelving, and the hidden home office behind bi-fold doors — was designed bespoke by Locus and built to Melner's specification on-site, scribed to walls that are never plumb.
A cloakroom finished in botanical wallpaper with a marble basin and mosaic floor tiles demonstrates the level of detail carried through even the smallest rooms.
Architect & interior design: Locus Design · Photography: Tom Kurek
Scope of works
- Full structural reconfiguration — load-bearing walls removed
- Rear extension with slim-line conservatory glazing
- Exposed brick restoration on original party walls
- Oak ceiling beams throughout extension
- Bespoke joinery — kitchen, storage, shelving & hidden office
- New sash windows throughout
- Portland stone worktops & external paving
- Garden room with green living roof
- Complete garden renovation & landscaping
- Full M&E replacement
03 — The Garden
A living room that happens to be outside.
The garden was redesigned from scratch as a single, integrated landscape. A freestanding garden room — clad in timber with a green living roof — serves as a home office and retreat. Portland stone paving, hardwood decking, raised brick planters, and mature planting including olive trees and Japanese maples create distinct zones for dining, lounging, and quiet contemplation.
04 — The Garden Room
Timber, plywood, and complete privacy.
The garden room forms the last space in a sequence of interconnected rooms — the most private and intimate of all. Clad externally in vertical timber battens with a green living roof, the interior is lined entirely in birch plywood, creating a warm, cabin-like atmosphere. It functions as both a home office and a quiet retreat, with views back through the garden to the main house beyond.
From the front door
to the garden room.
A house that moves through time — from Victorian formality at the front to contemporary warmth at the rear, with every space connected by natural light, honest materials, and the kind of build quality that a conservation-area home demands.
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