Berkeley Place renovates Bristol bombshelter
Berkeley Place has renovated a basement duplex apartment situated on a prime residential street in Clifton. During the basement renovation, an amazing piece of history was found. On the wall, handwritten, is a record of the 2nd World War air raids on Bristol.
Between 24 Nov 1940 and 11 April 1941, there were six major bombing raids on the city. Due to the presence of the Bristol Harbour and The Bristol Aeroplane Co, the city was a target for bombing and was easily found as enemy bombers were able to trace a course up the River Avon from Avonmouth. Bristol was the fifth most heavily bombed British city of WWII. The basement has been converted into a basement snug bedroom and bathroom. To create the snug, there was a full basement renovation, repair, and repointing of the flagstone. The bedroom was cleverly subdivided to maximise the use of space and provide two separate sleeping spaces. The historical basement was given a new lease of life to make it more liveable.
The Grade II listed a full renovation of the front terrace, living room, hallway, kitchen, utility, dining, bedroom and a master ensuite with a crittal terrace. The project’s vibe is bringing the old into the new and cleverly designing the small space to feel larger. Creating a larger amount of space in the home was a challenge, but it was overcome with clever storage. The whole home has a new warmth with new timber and underfloor heating. To mix old with new, a variety of suppliers were used, such as Howdens, Farrow & Ball (colours India Yellow (modern emulsion), Wimborne White (estate eggshell), and Hardwick white (estate eggshell). The tiling came from Mandarin stone, wallpaper is Harlequin Salon Wallpaper and the crittal supplied by Fabco.
A new kitchen was installed with quartz worktops, a Chelford navy customised kitchen, Quooker classic fusion square patinated brass hot taps and parquet flooring. In the dining room and hallway new glazed metal framed door and window as installed. In the kitchen and living room, a full-height wall bookshelf was installed. The stairs were installed with curved timber handrail to the outer wall and cleaned sandstone basement flooring and staircase.