Published17 July 2025Updated9 July 2026
The Grange, Finished: A Georgian Villa Restored, Warmed and Handed Back
Scaffolding down, family in. Here's how a tired Georgian villa in South Derbyshire became a warm, characterful family home, with JSA as architect and project manager from first sketch to last fix.
The Grange spent decades being restored by whoever was cheapest that decade: laminate over the original quarry tiles, plastic where the sash windows used to be, a Georgian villa in South Derbyshire quietly getting worse at being itself. It's finished now, and for the first time in a long while, nothing about it is a compromise.
JSA acted as architect and project manager throughout, from the first sketch of the reworked floor plan to the last piece of joinery on site. One team responsible for the drawing and the delivery means nothing gets quietly swapped for something cheaper once the scaffolding goes up, which is where most restorations go wrong.
The layout came first. Bricked-up doorways got reopened, the proportions went back to something closer to the house's original intent, and the kitchen diner now talks to the playroom instead of ignoring it. A formal drawing room with its own hidden bar, a study, a home gym, a media room, and upstairs, bedrooms spread generously across three floors with a guest annex besides.
Then came the part nobody photographs: the fabric. New hardwood timber sash windows, insulation and airtightness measures tucked into walls, floors and ceilings, so the house looks exactly as it always did from the street while running nothing like it used to underneath.
Under the replicated cornices and the reclaimed quarry tiles (one salvaged batch now doubles as the lid of a concealed hatch down to the wine cellar) sits a full Control4 system running the lighting, heating, security and sound, plus column radiators with smart valves disguised as brass toggles. None of it is visible from the sofa.
Outside, a heated pool runs on air source heat pumps under a cover that closes itself, so the warmth doesn't leave with the evening. Skip that detail and you're heating an expensive puddle every October.
We've written up the other two sides of this project already: what came out of the house on the way to putting it right, and how it was made warm enough to justify keeping. This is the part where it's finished: roughly 3,050 sq ft of Georgian villa, warm in the rooms the family use, not a new house wearing an old face.
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Common Questions
In South Derbyshire. It's a large Georgian villa that had been let down by decades of cheap repairs before this restoration.
Architect and project manager, covering the design and the delivery on site from first sketch to completion.
Around 3,050 sq ft across three floors, plus a converted cellar and new outbuildings in the grounds.
A full restoration and reconfiguration: reopened doorways, restored proportions, new hardwood sash windows, insulation and airtightness upgrades, a whole-home Control4 system, and a heated outdoor pool.
No, it isn't listed, but it was treated with the same care as one throughout the project.
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