Our story · · 8 min read
Restoring an 1890 Townhouse
How we brought a Victorian printworks back to life with British craftspeople, reclaimed oak and a great deal of patience.
When we first walked into 18 Tavistock Street, the building had been empty for eleven years. Pigeons lived on the top floor. The original printworks machinery had long gone, but the cast-iron columns were still there, and so was the light: tall arched windows on every level, facing both the street and a hidden courtyard.
Keeping what mattered
The house was built in 1890 as a printworks for theatre posters, which is why the ground floor ceilings are almost five metres high. We decided early that the restoration would follow one rule: repair before replacing.
That meant three years of careful work:
- Every one of the 64 sash windows was taken out, repaired and refitted with slim double glazing
- The cream Portland stone façade was cleaned by hand with steam, not chemicals
- The original pitch-pine floors were lifted, numbered and relaid over new acoustic insulation
We found a 1902 theatre poster for a long-forgotten musical behind a wall. It now hangs in the library lounge.
British hands
Almost everything new in the hotel was made in Britain. The bedroom joinery is reclaimed English oak, built by a family workshop in Herefordshire. Our wool carpets come from Yorkshire mills, the bathroom tiles from Stoke-on-Trent and the brass fittings from a foundry in Birmingham that has been casting since 1871.
Where the name comes from
The courtyard behind the house has a single Scots pine, planted by the printworks owner in the 1890s. It survived the Blitz, decades of neglect and our builders. The harbour part of the name is a nod to the river, five minutes away, where paper and ink once arrived by barge.
Quietly modern
Behind the old walls the building is thoroughly new. Air-source heat pumps replaced the gas boilers, the roof carries solar panels, and rainwater from the courtyard feeds the garden terraces. Every room has individual climate control and acoustic glazing, so the theatre crowds outside never reach your pillow.
If you are interested in the history of the house, ask at reception for our self-guided heritage walk. It takes about twenty minutes and ends, fittingly, beneath the pine.
