Reinventing the Underrated: Homes From the '60s and '70s
Underrated 1960s and '70s homes can often be had for a good price – then converted into something that's seriously cool
Hugo Tugman
11 March 2017
Houzz Contributor and founder of Architect Your Home - Interior Your Home, a country-wide network of like minded, qualified architects and designers who specialise in homeowner design projects
Houzz Contributor and founder of Architect Your Home - Interior Your Home, a country-wide... More
We are all familiar with the classic Victorian and Federation homes that everyone and their dog can see the potential in, that have then been beautifully extended and re-configured. However, seeking out a great opportunity is often about seeing things that others might miss, and the less-fashionable houses of the ’60s and ’70s can have just as much scope for improvement as their earlier, more obvious counterparts. Many houses from this era are already very well designed, but seeing their full potential can require vision. Let these reinventions inspire you.
Give it a facelift
Before: This rather boxy house, built in 1965 at the end of a cul-de-sac in west London, sat on the market for months with little attention, despite being in a fabulous location and having a deceptively large plot. The small uPVC windows, concrete roof tiles, flimsy gates, dark brick and painted pebbledash conspired to make it unattractive to buyers and it was eventually sold for about half the value of an equivalently sized Victorian house in the same location.
Before: This rather boxy house, built in 1965 at the end of a cul-de-sac in west London, sat on the market for months with little attention, despite being in a fabulous location and having a deceptively large plot. The small uPVC windows, concrete roof tiles, flimsy gates, dark brick and painted pebbledash conspired to make it unattractive to buyers and it was eventually sold for about half the value of an equivalently sized Victorian house in the same location.
Give it a facelift
After: Renovated within the pre-2008 permitted development rules, the house now has generous steel-framed windows and a clever composition of bold looking masonry, rendered and timber-clad walls. The new top floor is little more than a straightforward loft conversion, but the architectural language implies a timber box emerging from within an external masonry shell to create a penthouse-style master-bedroom suite on the top floor.
After: Renovated within the pre-2008 permitted development rules, the house now has generous steel-framed windows and a clever composition of bold looking masonry, rendered and timber-clad walls. The new top floor is little more than a straightforward loft conversion, but the architectural language implies a timber box emerging from within an external masonry shell to create a penthouse-style master-bedroom suite on the top floor.
Clad it
Before: Like many of its contemporaries, it is the exterior materials, detailing and window proportions that were letting this house down. While simple in overall form, sitting on an attractive sloping site and not offensive, finished in this way the house just feels overwhelmingly ordinary.
Before: Like many of its contemporaries, it is the exterior materials, detailing and window proportions that were letting this house down. While simple in overall form, sitting on an attractive sloping site and not offensive, finished in this way the house just feels overwhelmingly ordinary.
Clad it
After: The same house with an asymmetrical extension, striking black cladding and a more interesting composition of windows, including one huge glazed opening, now feels architectural and much more special.
38 ebony abodes embracing the dark side
After: The same house with an asymmetrical extension, striking black cladding and a more interesting composition of windows, including one huge glazed opening, now feels architectural and much more special.
38 ebony abodes embracing the dark side
One important point to make is that it does not have to be hugely expensive materials that can make the transformation. Simple dark-framed windows in an interesting configuration and black-stained weather-boarding such as this will not cost the earth, but make a tremendous difference.
Turn it into a classic
Before: Another example of a house where all the fundamentals are in place and an external makeover transforms the feel. Again there are window frames that feel ordinary and clunky, and, just as with the previous example, the house displays another awkward collection of visually weak and boring external materials.
Before: Another example of a house where all the fundamentals are in place and an external makeover transforms the feel. Again there are window frames that feel ordinary and clunky, and, just as with the previous example, the house displays another awkward collection of visually weak and boring external materials.
Turn it into a classic
After: The renovation project shows how houses of this period can be transformed into something more classic than the more striking, contemporary designs seen on the previous two examples. Visual weight has been added with the brick and stone projections at ground-floor level, while the much-improved styling of the replacement window frames adds a welcome sense of proportion.
Read more renovating stories
After: The renovation project shows how houses of this period can be transformed into something more classic than the more striking, contemporary designs seen on the previous two examples. Visual weight has been added with the brick and stone projections at ground-floor level, while the much-improved styling of the replacement window frames adds a welcome sense of proportion.
Read more renovating stories
Expand upwards and outwards
Before: Although for many houses of the period it won’t be the case, weak external detailing and materials can give some homes from this era a flimsy, almost pre-fab appearance.
This bungalow not only had the potential to be more attractive, but it also offered great redevelopment potential, with expansion in width possible to the side, and the opportunity to add an upper floor.
Before: Although for many houses of the period it won’t be the case, weak external detailing and materials can give some homes from this era a flimsy, almost pre-fab appearance.
This bungalow not only had the potential to be more attractive, but it also offered great redevelopment potential, with expansion in width possible to the side, and the opportunity to add an upper floor.
Expand upwards and outwards
After: The redeveloped house is bolder in its design and feels more solid, as well as now having an added garage and upper-floor bedrooms. The original roof has been retained across much of the width of the house, but the proportions have been completely changed with the addition of the new two-storey block. Installing the large, pointed window in the new front gable makes a much stronger statement than simply putting in an off-the-peg rectangular design.
Extensions that make their own mark
After: The redeveloped house is bolder in its design and feels more solid, as well as now having an added garage and upper-floor bedrooms. The original roof has been retained across much of the width of the house, but the proportions have been completely changed with the addition of the new two-storey block. Installing the large, pointed window in the new front gable makes a much stronger statement than simply putting in an off-the-peg rectangular design.
Extensions that make their own mark
Lead with the windows
Before: Here we see another example of a house where all the fundamentals are in place, but the external expression is a little bland. Especially the rather small first-floor windows lined up in a boring row, the under-played entrance and the large, dead-looking proportion of the garage door.
To be fair, the shape of double garage doors can often be problematic proportionally, and need careful consideration on the front of a house.
Before: Here we see another example of a house where all the fundamentals are in place, but the external expression is a little bland. Especially the rather small first-floor windows lined up in a boring row, the under-played entrance and the large, dead-looking proportion of the garage door.
To be fair, the shape of double garage doors can often be problematic proportionally, and need careful consideration on the front of a house.
Lead with the windows
After: By altering the arrangement of windows on the first floor and creating a super-wide-format frame around the large garage door and front entrance, the proportions of the house have been lifted tremendously.
The bold red on the front door and warmth of colour on the garage also add some sparkle that was missing before, but it is essentially the same house – it just feels much more special.
After: By altering the arrangement of windows on the first floor and creating a super-wide-format frame around the large garage door and front entrance, the proportions of the house have been lifted tremendously.
The bold red on the front door and warmth of colour on the garage also add some sparkle that was missing before, but it is essentially the same house – it just feels much more special.
Go for a radical reconfiguration
Before: Sitting on a lovely and large plot, the long cat-slide-style roof at the front of this early 1970s house over the single garage created an ugly dominant feature that the rather flimsy detailing of the rest of the house could not compete with.
Mean and poorly proportioned window openings with cheap and nasty windows are a common feature of many houses of this period, together with unattractive concrete roof tiles and visually weak external material detailing. However, as seen here, the fundamental structure and arrangement often provides the basis for relatively easy re-working into something much more prepossessing.
Before: Sitting on a lovely and large plot, the long cat-slide-style roof at the front of this early 1970s house over the single garage created an ugly dominant feature that the rather flimsy detailing of the rest of the house could not compete with.
Mean and poorly proportioned window openings with cheap and nasty windows are a common feature of many houses of this period, together with unattractive concrete roof tiles and visually weak external material detailing. However, as seen here, the fundamental structure and arrangement often provides the basis for relatively easy re-working into something much more prepossessing.
Go for a radical reconfiguration
After: While many would think this is a smart new-build house, it is in fact simply the extended and renovated original. The long roof and single garage were demolished at the front, and a new central gable-fronted bay window and single-storey bay windows were added on either side. The house was extended on two floors at the back, and all of the roof tiles were replaced with new slate.
Tell us
Do you live in a mid-century-built home? Tell us what you love about it – and what you’d love to change in the Comments below.
More
Browse more mid-century-style homes
After: While many would think this is a smart new-build house, it is in fact simply the extended and renovated original. The long roof and single garage were demolished at the front, and a new central gable-fronted bay window and single-storey bay windows were added on either side. The house was extended on two floors at the back, and all of the roof tiles were replaced with new slate.
Tell us
Do you live in a mid-century-built home? Tell us what you love about it – and what you’d love to change in the Comments below.
More
Browse more mid-century-style homes
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The one that has the fake classical columns in the 'after' photo - you're seriously claiming that's an aesthetic improvement? It looks tacky and horrible.
I can't help but think that with midcentury modern the height of fashion for internal decor, more sympathetic improvements to 1960s and 1970s houses should be the order of the day, not scrapping everything and turning them into something entirely different.
Personally I would have preferred to have seen something celebrating the period instead of just treating it as just another era (pun intended). How to give it more street appeal while still staying true to the aesthetic. That’s what I came here looking for, the search continues.