Transforming a Gate Lodge into a Spacious Home

Christian Clayton has always been fascinated by local history and old buildings, so he had no hesitation in buying a derelict landmark in his home town of Lytham in Lancashire and restoring it to its former glory. Tiny Church Lodge, one of four built at different entrances to the Lytham Hall estate, had been empty for three years and was in a pretty poor state of repair when Chris decided to give it a new lease of life. He knew that plenty of people had tried and failed to get planning permission to turn the Grade II, one bedroom property into a modern family home.

"I later discovered that they were suggesting appalling changes which were totally inappropriate for the style of the house," said Chris. "I wanted to build extensions which looked as though they had been there forever, using original materials and making everything as authentic as possible, so I approached the planning department with an open mind."

When they realised that here, at last, was someone with sympathetic intentions in mind, Fylde Borough Council and English Heritage threw their weight behind the project and architects Bromley Parker of St Annes drew up a master plan which showed how the original character of the lodge would be faithfully adhered to. The aim was to turn the one bedroom house, with its tiny rooms, into a spacious three bedroom home in which the dining room and kitchen would be knocked into one large kitchen, the bedroom would become a dining room, and the lounge would be extended into a period style conservatory.

With planning permission swiftly approved, Chris thought it would be downhill all the way - until he hired a building contractor to oversee the project. "It turned out to be a complete nightmare," said Chris. "We drew up a work schedule which they didn't stick to, they kept changing the goalposts and they would still demand payment at the end of every month. After six months I couldn't stand it any longer. I'm a perfectionist and don't like to cut corners so I thought it would be much easier to manage the project myself. Once I'd regained control the pace picked up very quickly."

With the help of a committed team of individual craftsmen, many of them known by, or recommended to Chris, he soon began to see significant progress in the project which was to eventually earn him a well-deserved commendation in Fylde Borough Councils Civic Conservation Awards. Undeterred by complaints from neighbours, Chris kept his eye on the goal and persevered, working weekends and evenings to oversee the restoration and occasionally breaking from his commitments as head of Arrow Publishing in Lytham to fine tune details on site.

"It was handy being so close," he said. "The whole thing was a great learning curve and I was determined not to be discouraged. I have a genuine interest in preserving things from our past. If I hadn't bought the lodge, it would eventually have fallen to rack and ruin and another piece of history would have been lost for ever."

Chris managed to successfully turn the lodge into a three bedroom house by following the designs and character of the original 1870s property, including the exact angle of the apex, stone sills and specially made wooden sash windows with cord pulls. He also copied the style of the walls which included two layers of common bricks and an outer layer of evenly sized local pebbles both cavities lined with insulation which was a traditional design of the area in the 19th century.

But first he had to make sure the soft sand on which the lodge had been built would withstand the redesigned building. The existing kitchen and bedroom floors were laid over a four foot drop straight onto sand, which was alternately wet and dry according to the tide. Circulating air within the cavity kept the floorboards dry, but the new foundations had to be mini-piled five feet into the ground which varied between soft sand and peat before building work could begin. Chris was then determined to find reclaimed bricks from the same era as the original lodge to ensure the extensions and garage blended in seamlessly. He scoured reclamation yards throughout the north until he found the perfect match - salvaged from an old mill - at a yard in Accrington. Out of each palette of 1,000 we could only find 700 good ones, but it was better than having them stand out like a sore thumb.

Chris employed specialist joiner Joe Gillett, who had restored the famous windmill sails at Lytham, to create a beautiful 3 thick Brazilian mahogany front door, and to reproduce the original pitch pine plinths and internal doors. All the skirting boards were specially made to the Victorian style 9 depth. Wood reclaimed in 32 foot lengths from the wreckage of the IRA bomb which devastated the centre of Manchester was used to create stunning features in the open lounge and bedroom ceilings - although it took five men to lift one length.

With the same attention to detail, Chris has installed a York stone fireplace, a rustic kitchen with exposed bricks and beams and a specially designed Victorian style conservatory featuring the same pebbles, reclaimed bricks, gothic windows and Fleurs de Lys detail. Chris had to get further planning permission for the conservatory because of its size, but once again Chris sympathetic restoration plans stood him in good stead.

"I didn't want a modern conservatory stuck onto the back," he said. "It had to be totally in keeping with that era, so I found someone who could design one which would look as though it had always been there." He even included two stained glass windows in the house, one representing the Lakeland roof slate and the county rosette and the other bearing the Clifton shield of the Lytham Hall estate, based on a coat of arms he discovered carved into a chimney breast in the roof space of the original lodge.

"The project has been a huge learning curve and great fun," says Chris. "Its satisfying to know you've had some part in helping to preserve a corner of Lythams heritage. I had never done anything like it before so I had no idea what would be involved, but I wanted to get it right."

Further reading:

• A Converted Dovecote
• Converting a Listed Stone Barn
• Everything you need to know about conversions