Riverview Office & Garage

Working from home is now a more common experience than it has ever been in the past century. Being able to work in one’s own office within the home can be a very satisfactory solution as long as a degree of separation can be achieved from home and family life.

This small project to create an office with a garage beneath, achieves just that. The main house, an early 20th century detached house with views over the Yare Valley, was previously the home of Lord Blake who lived here in his later years. Indeed, he continued to ‘work from home’ for Margaret Thatcher well into his retirement. Lord Blake’s own small and rather crammed purpose-made library and study, complete with floor-to-ceiling bookcases and layout areas for larger tomes, leaves little space however for the modern worker.

This new office and garage extension immediately adjoins Lord Blake’s library, so extending the useful working and contemplative space. It is a striking sanded, cedar clad building, created to house four cars at ground floor and an office with balcony and concealed terrace above. The contemporary design works well in the setting of the imposing Edwardian house.