The Carpenter’s House, Stenton Restoration Project, East Lothian Building Extension, Scottish Architecture
The Carpenter’s House in Stenton
10 Sep 2020
The Carpenter’s House
Architects: Loader Monteith
Location: Stenton, East Lothian, Scotland
The Carpenter’s House project is the restoration and extension of a listed house and carpenter’s workshop.

This former carpenter?s house ? a category B-listed property with two walled gardens ? was bought in the conservation village of Stenton, in a significant state of disrepair. Initially consisting of two bedrooms, a former workshop, a wash-house, and a kitchen in a 70s-built extension, we needed to bring the house into the 21st century.

The clients asked Loader Monteith to explore how the property could be changed into a four or five bedroom family home, promoting the existing underused spaces and connecting the main living areas to the walled garden.
The original house had several flaws. The extension cut off all the living spaces from the garden. A failed repair attempt meant that the roof was in need of complete replacement. The out-buildings were entirely unused due to their unsafe floors.

Despite these flaws, the house and village displayed many of the attributes of classic East Lothian architecture, and its rich potential was immediately obvious ? with the parged red sandstone rubble walls, the mix of ballachulish slate and red pantiles, crow-step gables, and conservation roof lights.

We ...