10 Beautiful Old and New Houses From The United Kingdom

The UK has some magnificent houses and a lot of beautiful historic buildings that have inspired lots of amazing projects all throughout the world. Of course, it’s not just the old structures that are inspiring and beautiful but a lot of the new and modern ones as well. In fact, we’re ready to share with you our top ten favorite houses in the United Kingdom. Each is extraordinary in its own unique way.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

The house designed by studio AMPS Arquitectura & Diseño in Hampshire shows that a super long and linear floor plan doesn’t have to look boring or to be impractical if you know how to adapt it to your needs. This is a cottage-inspired structure, a place where family and friends can spend lots of time together and enjoy life in the countryside in a stylish way. The house is beautifully integrated into the landscape and enjoys a close relationship with nature and its surroundings. It has a dark exterior but on the inside it’s very bright, airy and welcoming.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

It’s not uncommon for a lot of modern structures in the UK and elsewhere in the world to have rustic or farmhouse-inspired designs. This for instance is a lovely house situated on the outskirts of a village in Northumberland. It has neighbors on three sides of the property so its design had to be sensitive to the location and the architectural context. As such, studio Elliott Architects Ltd came up with a plan to give the house a simple design inspired by the local buildings but with an obvious modern twist.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

In the UK you can also find lots of old structures that have been restored and expanded. One of them is this beautiful house from North Wales which dates back to the 16th century. Architecture firm Donald Insall Associates were hired to restore it in a way that maintains as much of its historic beauty as possible. The team was also commissioned to build a contemporary extension for the house which had to respect the context and the style of the original building. The old and the new structures are significantly different from one another but they also fit well together and they bring out the beauty in each other’s design and architecture.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

This is another example of a renovation and expansion project which brought an old building back to life and gave it a new identity. The project started with an old terraced house situated in Croydon, UK. The owners worked with studio FAB Architects who were asked to remodel the existing structure and to expand it in order to create more space for the growing family. The expansion adds new areas to the back of the house, extending the living area and bringing more light inside. It’s a wood-clad section with a pitched roof and a vaulted space with a porthole window which gives it a very distinctive look.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

The Malone House is a project completed in 2019 by studio Adam Knibb Architects. It consists of a contemporary extension designed to open up the interior of the house, to bring it closer to its surroundings and to suit the active lifestyle of the owners. The general color palette on the outside helps the extension to coordinate with the existing house and to blend in more seamlessly. As far as the actual design and architecture are concerned, this is a very simple and modern structure with clean geometry and large openings and glazed surfaces.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

This is The Shambles, a 1960s bungalow recently remodeled and transformed into a modern family home by Sketch Architects. The original house has a generous footprint and was big enough for the owners but it has an outdated and impractical layout which made it unsuitable for their needs. Although it was a big place it felt small and cramped and the architects aimed to address that. Another goal to update the overall design of the house to make it more fitting for a contemporary lifestyle. The house now has a large living area with a tall ceiling and a direct connection to the garden, a separate playroom for the kids and a beautiful master bedroom with an en-suite dressing room. It is indeed complete.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

At the front this looks like a fairly generic Victorian house with a brick exterior and a contrasting, light-colored ground floor facade. At the back is where the true character of the house become visible. Big glazed surfaces and openings connect the interior spaces to the garden and extend to form a beautiful terrace. The refurbishment of this place was a project done by architecture studio OEB and the main goal was to turn the house into a modern, smart and minimalistic space that could be easily adapted over time. The interior was reconfigured, hiding behind the classic brick facade.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

Sometimes an old house is not worth salvaging in which case the other option is to remove it and build something new in its place. That was the case with a small 1920s bungalow which used to occupy this site. The structure was demolished and in its place RX Architects built a cluster of buildings which together create a modern home. The site has a triangular shape and was original surrounded by dense hedging which were removed in order to open up the views and to let more natural light into the volumes. The house consists of a single-storey structure that contains the kitchen, living and dining areas, a two-storey space for all the bedrooms and bathrooms with plans to add a garden studio, a shed and a utility area.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

The original design of this Edwardian semi-detached house from London was absolutely perfect for the extension plans that the owners had in mind. Because the building already had an unusual shape to begin with, adding an extension was very easy. It was R2 Studio Architects who were in charge of the transformation and, as you can see, they managed to make the old and the new structures blend in beautifully and to really make them feel like a part of the same house. The extension is clad in timber which looks quite similar to the exposed brick that covers the facades of the original house. The styles are obviously different but they add an interesting contrast rather than clash with each other.

Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen
Stoke Newington House in uk Material Works Architecture kitchen

In the case of this Victorian terraced house from London adding an extension was quite challenging due to the limited space and budget that the architects had to work with. Studio Material Works Architecture managed to come up with an interesting plan that would ultimately open up the house and create new spaces that seamlessly interact with the existing floor plan. The strategy was to give the extension a big skylight roof that lets the light enter from above. The new exterior walls were built with reclaimed local bricks in order to allow the new addition to blend in and to coordinate with the existing structure.