The Dazzling Transformation of an Old London Pub

Erbar Mattes transformed an old pub in Hoxton by clearing out the excess and adding a brick extension to create a duplex apartment.

The historic pub, known as “Blockmakers Arms,” is located in the Regent’s Canal conservation area and dates back to the mid-19th century. The building was converted into three apartments in the 1970s. Later, the owners of the ground-floor apartment purchased the vacant first-floor apartment to create a five-bedroom duplex for their growing family.

The London-based architectural design studio Erbar Mattes proposed removing previous additions that disrupted the pub’s original structure and replacing them with an elevated walkway inspired by monastery cloisters and a brick porch.

Erbar Mattes explained, "One of the biggest challenges was creating a larger residence without losing separate access to the independent apartment on the top floor." To overcome this, external circulation was moved to the side facade, and a new elevated walkway was added at the back.

Erbar Mattes continued: "The porch, designed with solid brick buttresses, creates a sheltered transition space between the interior and exterior, inspired by monastery architecture." This new arrangement, replacing a non-functional vehicle entrance, also strengthened the building’s relationship with the walled rear courtyard.

On the interior facade, later-added plasterboard ceilings and cladding were removed and reworked to better suit the expanded scale.

The former event room on the first floor was redesigned to create a large master bedroom opening onto a roof terrace above the pub’s original entrance. Inside, there is also a staircase overlooking nearby trees through a large window, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.