A Home with a History: the worthwhile legacy of a sustainably revamped Cotswolds manor

Ask any historic homeowner how they feel when confronted with rotting roof timbers, archaic electrical wiring and crumbling outbuildings and it’s unlikely you’ll be met with great enthusiasm. But then again, it isn’t often that you meet a historic homeowner with the vision and determination of Lisina Fingerhuth Leung.

Lisina, an architect, her husband, Nick, and their four children relocated to the UK from Beijing in 2017. Their house hunt soon led them to a Grade II-listed, 17th-century manor in the Cotswolds village of Shipton, with interesting Arts and Crafts additions, a Grade II*-listed party barn and enough space to host their family and friends.

There wasn’t just one catch, however. There were multitudes. What started out as a light-touch renovation led to the unearthing of a whole host of problems with a house that had seen a series of patchy repairs and poor interventions over the decades.

Yet the magnitude of the works required never outweighed Lisina’s desire to breathe new life into this curious old building. Under the counsel of architect Richard Parr, whose practice specialises in blending craft tradition and technology with contemporary design intelligence, Lisina and her family have been able to create a worthwhile legacy here.

The resulting restoration is radical but entirely unintrusive. Now, modern interventions blend seamlessly with the home’s original features. “We just wanted to get it back to what it should be,” says Lisina.

Perhaps most pertinently the whole home now runs off renewable energy. It’s a blueprint for how best to futureproof our historic building stock and demonstrates that, far from being impracticable, sustainability can create a harmonious dialogue with heritage.

Here, Lisina and Richard chat to Inigo about this exemplary restoration project.

Lisina: “We bought the house in 2016. It was the first place we saw, but we knew it was the one – it was the right size, close to my daughters’ school, offered flexible living, and even though some of the outbuildings were completely ruined, I was drawn to it. I saw that I could play with these structures and restore them. I was excited by it.

“Then I started looking for someone to help me realise my ideas. When I met Richard, I knew he would understand what we should do and how. We were on the same wavelength.”

Richard: “Lisina and I both instinctively knew what was right at this house. The long run of derelict stables, now guest bedrooms and a gym, is a perfect example. We both saw a great opportunity in this honest Cotswold building.”

Lisina: “We bought the house thinking it would be a simple renovation but one thing led to another – especially once we took the roof off and could see the extent of the damage. Many of the roof timbers were rotten and all the wiring needed redoing. I also wanted to put in ground-source heating, which meant that a new plumbing system was needed. The 10 months we had originally given ourselves to do the works was not going to be enough.”

Richard: “There were some key things that Lisina and Nick wanted to achieve, such as improving the flow of the house. Previous owners throughout history had just built bits on the house to try and solve its tricky layout. Lisina bravely got us to open it up, to really use the rooms and make the existing floorspace work, rather than add something on.”

Lisina: “In the entrance hall we put in modern, glazed screens, taking cues from the proportions of the existing lead windows. We wanted to add elements that would be in the same grammar as the house but a slightly different language. We took a similar approach in the stables with a run of guest rooms, which are based on the proportions of the loose boxes. They still look like stables but they’re also comfortable inside.”

Richard: “It was also important that the works we did resisted pastiche. The house didn’t have a proper dining room, so we created a contemporary oak-panelled one by combining the former utility and TV rooms. Lisina and Nick’s collection of European and Asian art and books fed into the design of the house, so now we have a wonderful blend of the traditional English country-house style with a modern edge.

“Lisina was also very keen on renewable energy. The house has access to a lot of water – a lake, canals and a stream – which is why it would have been built here. Now, hundreds of years later, we are using it draw energy once again – I think that is a fascinating loop. Ground-source pumps are unintrusive and clean – we didn’t have to dig trenches or add flues. It was definitely the most visionary thing Lisina and Nick decided to do.”

Lisina: “Nick is also very pleased that the icehouse, which previously held the oil heating system, is now back in use – a perfect store for his wine!”

Richard: “I think time was one of the biggest challenges we were up against. Oh, and asking the craftsmen working with us to not be too perfect! These houses were built out of rubble dug from the ground nearby. Historic craftsmen were inventive and creative with the resources at hand and we wanted to continue this method. Luckily, we were working with great people who understood this.”

Lisina: “Finding the right craftsmen is not easy. The people working on this project – from our roofers to the French polisher Richard introduced me to, were all immensely important to its success.

“A lot of the interior design was led by Nick, though he has a tendency to buy quite odd things; it’s my job to work out where they fit! The conversation seat in the hall was bought from Christie’s; I had it reupholstered in sheepskin, as a nod to Shipton, which means ‘sheep hamlet’. Elsewhere, our collection of Asian pieces – from the Xinjiang carpets to the collage of Beijing’s Forbidden City – really personalises the house. We have lived in Hong Kong and Beijing; Nick is from Hong Kong and my mother grew up in Shanghai. Our Chinese connections are important.

Richard: “What you see now is Lisina and Nick’s collection of life. It’s a proper home, with lots of layers and influences. There’s an authenticity to it. Most people don’t want to live in a museum, so when you’re working on a home like this, it’s important to be brave. Add something of now to the building and leave a worthwhile legacy behind.”

Lisina: “Over the centuries, everyone has added little bits to the house and I think these layers add curiosity. Now it’s our turn. As an architect, it can be difficult to work on your own home – you want to build something contemporary but also something that works with the surroundings. I think we have created the right balance. There is still a dialogue between the buildings here, but it is a fresh, respectful dialogue.”

Richard Parr Associates