BLUE-SKY THINKING

How do you extend a venerable home, designed by revered architects a century ago? First, you have to get into their heads.

- Malcolm Jack

To say that Guy Harrower felt the gaze of history over his shoulder when he embarked on this project would be something of an understatement. His home, Glenwood, a sumptuous Arts and Crafts-inspired villa in southwest Edinburgh, was designed in 1932 by two of Scotland's most important architects, Sir Basil Spence and Sir William Hardie Kininmonth.

It's not just one of the city's most significant 20th-century homes; it's where Guy grew up. Glenwood was bought by his family in 1969 (and they remain only its second owners), and Guy has decades of fond memories bound up in the grand B-listed building with its white harling, monumental chimney stacks, steeply pitched tiled roofs and multipane glazing. “My mum was very houseproud,” Guy says. “It was her house. She did a bit of interior design and it was very much in her style, very elaborate and ornate.”

When his mother died four years ago, Guy and his wife Lynne decided to take on Glenwood and make it their own. “But we realised, for modern-day living, we needed to do something quite drastic to it. And that evolved into a project of two halves.”

One half was stripping the house back to its bare bones inside and out, and replumbing, rewiring, redecorating and reorganising the entire thing to make it a better fit for their needs and tastes. It's now lighter, brighter, simpler and less cluttered - yet in a way that carefully preserves and enhances many of its existing features. For example, stunning original hardwood floors have been sanded and stained into new life. “The carpets were taken up and I saw the floors below for the first time since we moved in in 1969. That was a 'wow' moment.”