Inspiration of the Week: a seamless blend of past and present in Camden

This house – currently for sale – is at first glance a grand Victorian townhouse much like any other on Camden Square. It ticks a run of traditional boxes, its neoclassical stucco frontage set back behind a balustraded wall. The moulding is immaculate, the sash windows are smart. There’s a large front garden, mature and well-planted with roses and yew trees.

But step in through the gate and everything changes. Before you even enter the house, the tone is set by the white abstract sculpture that stands sentry beside the front door – a hint to this house’s more recent history. For, while the building was constructed in the mid-19^th century, it was extensively remodelled in the 1970s by its owner, Max Fordham, the environmental engineer behind Tate St Ives and the Contact theatre in Manchester.

Fordham, as his obituary in The Guardian says, “changed the way architects thought about heating, light and power”. He was a proponent of environmentally conscious construction long before it was recognised as being central to building practices and he believed good design and sustainability were inseparable. His work on this house on Camden Square, which simultaneously melds preserved period features with sensitive interventions, is proof of his perceptive approach.

Using simple materials – timber, glass, steel – Fordham brought the house up to date. Note the block flooring in place of draughty boards, the sash windows, whose original leaky frames have been replaced like for like, and handsome conservatory – a tasteful take on a Victorian glasshouse. There’s no plastic here – and nothing to compete with the original rooms’ extant cornicing and marble fire surrounds.

Today, contemporary decorative decisions taken by the current owners – a punchy paint palette and a mix of traditional silhouettes with more modern ones – only serve to underscore the deft dovetailing of past and present. Whoever said the Victorians were so last century?