Hither Green House
Reconfiguration & Structural Renovation
RESIDENTIAL RENOVATION • HITHER GREEN, LONDON
OVERVIEW
This south-east London Victorian terrace had a layout that no longer suited the way its owners lived. The ground floor was divided into a series of small, disconnected rooms — a narrow galley kitchen, a separate dining room, and two back reception rooms that left the house feeling fragmented and underused. Crocker & Hawkes were engaged to rethink the entire ground floor and renovate the upstairs bathroom, with a brief to create a calm, open, characterful home that felt both honest to the building’s age and genuinely comfortable for modern living.
THE BRIEF
Making the house work
The clients wanted an open, sociable ground floor centred on a generous kitchen-dining space, without losing the distinct character of the house. The existing galley kitchen was too small for the room it occupied and poorly connected to the garden — a significant missed opportunity in a house with good outdoor space.
Equally important was the aesthetic direction: natural materials, exposed structure where appropriate, and a restrained palette that would feel warm and lived-in rather than over-finished.
BEFORE & AFTER
GROUND FLOOR – BEFORE
- Narrow galley kitchen (rear)
- Separate dining room
- Second rear reception room
- Front sitting room
FIRST FLOOR – BEFORE
- First-floor bathroom
GROUND FLOOR – AFTER
- Open-plan kitchen & dining room
- New bathroom & utility room
- Front sitting room (retained)
- —
FIRST FLOOR – AFTER
- Wetroom shower – fully refurbished
SCOPE OF WORK
Spatial reconfiguration
Former galley kitchen converted to bathroom and utility room
Structural alteration
Wall removed between dining room and rear reception; steel supports inserted
Garden connection
New French doors and full-length window installed to open onto garden
Exposed brickwork
Chimney stacks exposed and bricks reinstated to reveal the original fabric
Bespoke joinery
Reclaimed oak shelving made in-house, with hand-forged blacksmith brackets
Bathroom renovation
Full refurbishment of first-floor bathroom
ROOM LAYOUT BEFORE
Dining area (adjacent to kitchen)
Rear dining room
Galley kitchen
APPROACH
Structure, Material, Light
Temporary propping installed to support structure during opening up works
Removing the wall between the dining room and the second rear reception room required a careful structural solution. A new steel beam was inserted to carry the load above, allowing the two spaces to read as one generous room — the new heart of the house — while the front room remained a quieter sitting room.
The former galley kitchen, no longer needed in its original position, was repurposed as a practical bathroom and utility room, a more logical use of the space that also freed the main kitchen to expand and connect directly to the garden through new French doors and a full-length glazed door. The result is a room that draws light through the depth of the house.
Former galley kitchen stripped back to reveal the pitched roof, later retained to create a higher ceiling and introduce rooflight
Let the building speak
Rear dining room fireplace removed and reinstated within the front living room
Victorian properties rarely reveal their condition upfront. Here, opening up exposed rotten subfloor timbers, inadequate lintel support, and drainage issues beneath the kitchen floor. Each required resolution before the project could move forward. This is the unglamorous part of renovation — and the part that determines how well everything else endures.
In this project, two discoveries defined the structural phase.
Opening the ceiling revealed the brickwork beneath the flue was supported by nothing more than a piece of plywood, a makeshift solution that had gone undetected for years. Exposing the chimney breast showed there was no lintel in place. Both required proper structural intervention before the project could move forward.
Futureproofing, in the most literal sense.
Throughout, the intention was to let the building speak. The chimney breast within the new kitchen–dining space was opened up and the brickwork carefully reinstated and pointed. A woodburning stove was introduced within the reinstated fireplace at the opposite end, with the two exposed chimney stacks creating a balanced, symmetrical presence across the room.
Chimney breast exposed prior to structural works, with insufficient support to flue and no lintel present
Chimney breast exposed, reinstated and integrated within the completed space
MATERIALS & CRAFT
Reclaimed oak
Shelving timbers sourced and fabricated in-house for kitchen, dining area, and living room
Hand-forged steel brackets
Commissioned from an artisan blacksmith; functional and quietly striking
Exposed London stock brick
Original chimney stacks uncovered and reinstated throughout
Structural steel
Concealed RSJ supporting the new open-plan configuration
OUTCOME
A house with clear identity
The ground floor now flows as the clients intended: a relaxed, light-filled kitchen and dining room at the back, opening onto the garden; a quieter sitting room at the front; and a practical utility and bathroom tucked neatly where the old galley once was.
The character of the house — its age, its materiality, its solidity — is not something applied over the top of the renovation. It is the renovation. The exposed brick, the reclaimed timber, the hand-made details: these are the things that will make this house feel like itself for decades to come.
contact@chpropertyservices.com
Alongside projects of this scale, we also carry out smaller, focused works, often where a simple change can
significantly improve how a space functions.