Words Kate Jacobs
Photography Ash James

Conceived in 1948 and completed in 1951, it is the work of architect Ronald Vallis, a Frome local who created a whole host of varied, if conventional, properties in and around the town, notably branching out here and at nearby Knoll House, built in the mid-1930s. His son and grandson are also architects and the latter, Giles Vallis of Vallis Architects, came on board here to help the then-new owners George and Claire Chapman. Giles suspects that his grandfather’s forays into the brave new world of art deco might have been more akin to his personal architectural inclinations, “perhaps inspired by his monthly copy of Architectural Review,” says Giles. 

Both Giles and George grew up around Frome before their careers – George is a motoring writer – took them to London, until they each returned to this area to put down roots. George explains, “Frome is very well connected to so many parts of the country and, with its theatres, cinema, independent shops and cafes and so much going on in the community, it’s a very special place to live.”

George Chapman: “Finding the house was all very sudden and very swift. My wife and I were looking at a place down the road and wandered up here, saw this house, and quickly arranged a viewing. It was going to auction so we got in just ahead of that. The house had been stripped back to a shell, with bare cement render, but it was a blank canvas. It had that post-war optimistic spirit, and felt like a deserted holiday villa, perched on the edge of a hill that drops away with fantastic views to the west and the south, out to the horizon across Whatcombe Fields, which are owned by the Frome community for the public to use. When we first came up here, we had this feeling of opportunity, that this could be stunning once we put it our stamp on it.”

Giles Vallis: “I had been vaguely following the house since I discovered that my grandfather had designed it, and I saw that it had been withdrawn from the auction. For me it was so interesting to work on a house that my grandfather had designed. The more closely we looked, the more we saw how well the house had been thought out, in terms of the position of the house itself, the rooms and even the windows, to create a lovely light and great flow. It was a real pleasure for me to be able to explore that a bit further and bring it up to date, make it more liveable for the modern age.” 

George: “I'm a big fan of lineage, of keeping it in the family and keeping a connection going. Some of the people we talked to wanted to flatten the house and build a new one. But when we met Giles, it all just clicked and fell into place, so it was the obvious decision to make. This project has been about restoring and respecting the house, blending mid-century forms with 21st century sensibilities. It was a case of ‘let's start another chapter of the same story’. We could see it coming back to life with modern materials and a modern eye.”

Giles: “Kaylow was designed in 1948 when there were still restrictions on the size of house you could build and the materials you could use, so it needed expansion. It needed turning into a modern family home for George, Claire and their children, but we wanted to keep the essence of the original house. Although we've added on to the house, it has been a case of evolution, not revolution. Drawing on the contours of the site itself, we created a new two-storey extension at an angle to the main house, a kitchen-dining room on the ground floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows to make the most of the incredible views and, upstairs, a generous new main bedroom suite. At the other end of the house, we’ve built a second storey over what was once the garage, creating an apartment that can work for visiting friends and family, or as an Airbnb.”

George: “The apartment has a bedroom on the ground floor and living space above, which helps to provide privacy for everyone. And we’ve managed to create generous parking at the front of the house, which is great because parking can be an issue in Frome and then, at the back of the house, we’ve added a covered walkway, leading to a new two-car garage. The garage follows the same style as the kitchen extension, so it's got the same architectural voice and it looks like part of the house. We decided on black and white for the exterior quite early on, when we were choosing windows. It’s a classic aesthetic that’s relatively in keeping with the other houses on the street, but still with a sharp, unique look.”

Giles: “To differentiate between the old and the new, we wrapped the upper floor of the apartment extension in Shou Sugi Ban, timber charred for preservation, according to the Japanese technique. There’s a sense of yin and yang between old and new, black and white.”

George: “Inside we used natural, earthy materials, with wood floors throughout. Downstairs we went for ash, with a matte, sawn finish. We carefully laid it to show off the direction of the kitchen extension, drawing your eye and encouraging you to move through the house and explore, to have this inviting element that ties in with the welcoming atmosphere of the house in general. Because of the architecture, both the original work and new additions, and our position up on the hill, there is a wonderful feeling of space, light and air here.”

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