Nicholas Kane/arcaid.co.uk
The rejuvenated Brewhouse’s hard-edged aesthetic is echoed in the bath, where polished surfaces stand in contrast to the chunky interior stone walls. Like the kitchen/living room relationship, the bath is largely open to the adjoining master bedroom. And, again, seamlessness is the operative idea. “The scale of things is large, so we didn’t want a lot of fine detail,” Clegg explains. Everything—from the wall-mounted toilet to the recessed mirror and lighting—was chosen for its clean design ethos. Limestone on the floor folds upward behind the toilet and reappears above the washbasin backsplash, which is covered in clear mosaic glass tiles. “We picked stuff that was quite angular rather than curved,” Clegg says. “Everything is very rectilinear, which has to do with the planes in the space.”
An exception is the original stone archway—added as a decorative feature to break up the wall a bit, Clegg guesses—under which the architects installed a radiator. The stone walls were simply cleaned up and repointed. Like the kitchen, the bath also evokes luxury with its white sinks and gleaming surfaces. The crowning touch is the handmade teak bathtub and shower back panel, which were made to order by a local company. Completed in 2006, the Brewhouse’s 80 apartments range in size from 1,000 square feet to 1,700 square feet.
To hear Clegg tell it, the Royal William Yard redevelopment is helping the city shed its industrial past, while reinvigorating a piece of its history. “Plymouth is being seen as a desirable place to live,” he says.
