Restoring a Victorian Home

Colin and Sally Shaw-Downie have completely restored a Victorian house in appaling condition into a characterful family home, carrying out much of the work themselves.

In 1897, the splendid Cliff House near Winchester in Hampshire was the first house to be built in its street and was designed as a gentleman’s residence. But when Colin and Sally Shaw-Downie found it in 2000, nothing had been done to it for at least 25 years — except for turning it into a bad bed and breakfast business.

“It was in very poor shape,” remembers Colin, a quantity surveyor. “The roof needed some work and all the Victorian cast iron guttering and downpipes were in terrible condition. Inside there was old wiring sticking out of the walls, radiators hanging off their brackets, broken doors and hinges, and altogether 13 smashed windows. It looked like a war zone — as if it had been under attack.”

In addition, there were no bathrooms anywhere – just a washbasin and shower in each of the seven bedrooms – and there appeared to be no fireplaces either — until renovations began and they were found boarded up. “There was also a nasty grey carpet through­out and patchily painted peach walls,” says Sally. “We had to see past the muck and grime to detect its potential.”

They also had some unseen visitors: a nest of mice which stole the children’s chocolate baubles off the Christmas tree and scurried upstairs to eat them in the back bedrooms. “We knew it wasn’t our kids, Jack or Mollie, by the tiny teeth marks,” says Sally. “In any case, Mollie was a babe in arms which left it to Jack, then aged four, and I don’t think even he would have managed to eat so many!” The mice were eventually disposed of by using humane traps and blocking up every point of access.

Mysteriously, the couple found a set of blocked-up steps leading to the basement. “Someone had concreted over the entrance — we don’t know why,” says Colin. “We decided we’d have to find out what treasures – or horrors – were being concealed down there, as soon as we could work out how to get through the concrete!”

Although there were some beautiful features left, such as the elaborate cornicing and ceiling roses, fortunately the house was not listed so the Shaw-Downies were able to knock down various walls to maximise light and space. Even more fortunately, Colin, as a quantity surveyor, and Sally, as an interior designer, were able to do a lot of the work themselves, with some outside help for the plumbing, electricals and brickwork. “If you know what you’re doing, you only really need about three men,” says Colin.

The first thing to be done was have missing and broken clay tiles on the roof replaced. They called in a roofer to do this who used period tiles from Romsey Reclamation Yard and he also replaced the lead flashing round the two chimneys, which had deteriorated and were causing damp in the attic.

Meanwhile, the couple removed some of the wash­basins and showers (but kept Victorian-style pieces) and knocked two small bedrooms into one to create a grand dressing room and en suite for the master bedroom. This also involved removing a cupboard in order to install a sauna. “We had to build the sauna in a space measuring just two by one metres,” says Colin. “Other­wise we would never have got it through the door. It made me think of that sarcophagus in Egypt — no one can understand how it got into the pyramid as the entrance is too small to accommodate it.”

The remaining four bedrooms were already parti­tioned to take en suite shower rooms so the couple simply put in new bathroom furniture.

The biggest job was in the entrance hall where Colin and Sally moved part of the rear wall out by a metre. “This was because we wanted to replace a smallish window measuring some one metre by half a metre with a much bigger picture window measuring one by three metres,” says Colin. “We wanted to make the most of the fantastic light, so we pushed out the wall surrounding it up to the depth of a metre to create an alcove. The first ten feet was built of brick to match the rest of the house and the second ten feet (first floor) was panelled with exterior-quality plywood on a stud wall which was then rendered. We then put in a lead roof extending from under the eaves to the top of the wall.”

Also in the hall they created a wide loft access which meant sawing through the joists and rejigging them to strengthen them. The original loft access in Jack’s bedroom was closed off.

The couple also knocked down part of the wall between the drawing room and the library to create a double door-sized arch. At the same time they created a smaller opening in the same wall to insert a piece of stained glass depicting their home, which Colin had found in pieces in a canvas bag in the attic. “It shows a date – 1977 – and the name Timothy Lewis,” says Sally. “I’ve no idea why it was hidden so carefully – or by whom – as we love it. We’ve now put it in our drawing room.”

The last room to be tackled was the kitchen, which was a small room with a utility room and passage attached. “The room was covered in grease,” says Colin. “There was a canopy over the central frying area but it was so bunged up that the splattering fat had spread all over the ceiling. We gladly took down all the fibre ceiling tiles and replaced them with new.” They then demolished all the interior walls to create one big kitchen breakfast room and inserted an RSJ to take the load.

“Because we’re in the trade we bought Shaker-style kitchen units straight from the manufacturer,” says Colin. “All the worktops are in granite substitute except for the beech work surfaces on the island. We also had beech handles and a beech butcher’s block put in. We chose a Country Range cooker from Belling and a double ceramic sink and put down Italian ceramic tiles on the kitchen and hall floors.”

Meanwhile, the big garage was divided up to create a utility room using a stud partition and more Italian ceramic tiles. It was while Colin was re-roofing it with a triple clear perspex roof panelling system that he put his foot through a not-so-solid panel and broke his leg — dislocating his toes to boot! “It meant three or four weeks of inactivity, although I did try very hard hopping.” During this time the whole house was being rewired, re-plumbed and, where necessary, re-plastered.

All of the rotten guttering and downpipes were replaced with new ones made of modern resin. “We cheated!” says Colin. “But they look authentic. And while we’re on the subject of resin, I’d advise anyone thinking of having a roll-top bath to forget about cast iron and go for a modern resin equivalent. We chose cast iron and they were so heavy and cumbersome we had to remove the banisters and newel posts to allow six people to get them upstairs. Also, resin baths are a lot warmer on the backside!”
As none of the sash windows would open, all the sash cords had to be renewed. “Maybe that’s why so many of the windows were broken,” muses Colin. “Perhaps the occupants became too frustrated.”

As for the blocked-up basement access: “We attacked the concrete with a Kango hammer but after three days had to give up — the concrete won! So perhaps we’ll never know what lies beneath…”