ALTERATION GARDENS CAPE TOWN

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This Victorian home in Lower Gardens, Cape Town, had previously been opened up and renovated. The current owners wanted to utilise a small outbuilding in the rear garden, however, and make use of all possible space on this small erf in the City Centre. Although dwarfed by large apartment blocks and offices, the property offered views of Table Mountain from the first floor.

Grobler Architects proposed the demolition of the external store room, and, with underpinning of the old Victorian foundations, a basement off-shutter concrete wine cellar accessed by a pull-down ladder. A new guest bedroom and en suite was built over the wine cellar, while the roof overhead was used as a large open terrace with hardwood decking and a new braai with close-up views of Table Mountain.

The two front bedrooms of the original Victorian house were re-configured to allow for a new master en-suite bathroom as well as a small bathroom with shower for the second bedroom. The roof loft was converted into a family room, stepping up via a new mansard roof with French doors to the new roof terrace.