Open House: Archie and Tricia MacDonald’s lauded contemporary seaside house near Edinburgh
In our series ‘Open House’, we tell the human side to some of our homes for sale, meeting the current owners to talk to them about their life in the space. Here, we meet Archie and Tricia MacDonald at their contemporary seaside house on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles from Edinburgh.
Archie and Tricia moved back to Scotland from Winchester, where they had raised their children, in 2007 to be closer to Tricia’s mother. When she passed in 2013, the couple had the opportunity to purchase the house on the site where their contemporary seaside house now sits.
After living in the original house for six months, they decided it was too small and approached Matthew Johnson of A449 Architects, who was tasked with extending the house and adding a sea view, which was strangely lacking despite its superlative spot overlooking the North Sea.
“One theory for why houses in this part of the northeast don’t often have sea views is that the fishermen didn’t like their wives looking out to sea because they thought they’d worry if their boat didn’t come into the harbour,” says Archie. “Whether that’s true or not I don’t know but, for whatever reason, it’s not common for older houses to have sea views around here.”
Work began but it was soon discovered that the roof was rotting, and the walls were unstable. A new plan was conceived in which only the sea wall, the strongest structural component of the house, remained. “Effectively we had to build a new house,” says Tricia.
The resulting building is comprised of the rebuilt section of the old house, now incorporating an expansive six-metre window and a timber-frame extension that cuts a striking silhouette in its contemporary appropriation of the traditional gable roof.
It’s a house fit for modern purpose. “I find it reassuring to know that there are no surprises,” says Tricia, “we know where everything is, it’s warm, comfortable, easy to keep and there’s a lot of space and light.”
But, of course, their favourite outcome of the project is the panoramic views afforded by the new glazing that seamlessly punctures the sea wall. “It’s the house’s raison d’être,” says Tricia.
“Everybody who comes in just goes ‘Wow’. It is spectacular and ever-changing. The tide goes in and out and just sitting here watching it when it’s high, with waves lapping around right outside or when it’s out half a mile away is mesmerising. You could sit and watch it for hours.”
It certainly made an impression on our Appraisals Specialist Lucy Drane, who said of the view, “As soon as you enter the space, the cinematic views from the living room are just captivating.”
The house wasn’t just well-received by us, with A449’s design picking up a RIAS Award in 2017 and inclusion in RIBA’s House of the Year Award in the same year. “When the judges came to see it they were especially taken with the small little details, like the recessed guttering,” says Archie.
Archie and Tricia are moving to be closer to their children and grandchildren in the southeast – a move they are very much looking forward to. “But we’ll miss this house,” says Tricia, “If we could pick it up and move it we’d love to.”
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