TOWN HOUSE
STOW-ON-THE-WOLD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, THE COTSWOLDS, UK
We approached a historic townhouse shaped by centuries of shifting use with a sensitivity that privileges atmosphere over intervention. Working closely with our collaborators, the design was guided by a desire to reveal and refine what already existed, allowing the building’s layered history to remain legible while gently rebalancing it for contemporary living.
At the heart of the project is a careful reading of the architecture itself. Thick Cotswold stone walls, aged timber beams and 17th century windows provide a richly textured framework that is neither smoothed nor over-restored. Instead, Yolland chose to preserve the irregularities and patina that give the house its character, treating them as essential elements of the design language rather than flaws to be corrected.
New interventions are deliberately quiet. A restrained material palette of limewashed surfaces, natural timber, stone and softly tonal textiles sits in dialogue with the historic fabric, creating continuity across old and new.
Spatially, the house unfolds as a sequence of distinct but connected moments. Intimate rooms with lower ceilings and heavier materiality give way to lighter, more generous spaces that open onto the courtyard garden. This rhythm of compression and release was carefully considered to enhance the sense of calm progression through the house, allowing each space to feel distinct yet part of a coherent whole.
Detailing throughout is understated and tactile. Furnishings are chosen for their sculptural simplicity and material honesty, while lighting is layered to create depth rather than drama. The interiors are not styled as a singular gesture but composed as a series of quiet adjustments that respond to light, proportion and texture.
The result is a home that feels both grounded and effortless, where history is not staged but lived with. Through a close collaboration between Yolland and our collaborators, this house became an exercise in restraint and clarity, where the beauty of the architecture is not redesigned but carefully brought forward.