St John’s North, Wakefield

The Conversion Of Landmark Grade 2* Listed Georgian Terrace

16-20 St John’s North, forms three neighbouring elegant three-storey late Georgian terrace buildings that are collectively Grade 2* Listed, and contribute greatly to the appearance and historical character of their context within St John’s Conservation Area, that has a very desirable character, built around an 18th-century classical Church of St John the Baptist.

Architecture 1B were chosen to conduct a detailed examination of building’s layout and composition, and propose a sensitive scheme of internal alterations to convert the former offices back to their original purpose as residential properties, creating a number of flats within the large buildings. Given the buildings Grade 2* Listed status, a full assessment of previous incremental interventions was made, including where connections between these previously three separate dwellings had been made to make it a single office building, where modernisation interventions had been made to facilitate the commercial use, where these had resulted in loss or where they could be reversed, and identifying what original features or elements remain and make an important contribution to the building.

The retention and expression of the historic fabric was the primary design criteria, and any interventions proposed for the conversion back to residential use were carefully considered to limit any further loss of fabric, and ensure any additions were both necessary and reversable.