Britten-Pears Library & Red Cottage

This aims of this project were the remodelling and conservation of a number of buildings around the site of the Red House in Aldeburgh, the home of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. The movement of archive material to the new Britten-Pears Archive building freed up a number ancillary buildings on the site for new uses, and also for more significant to be returned to their original use. Specifically, a stable block and its courtyard infill have now been remodelled as a permanent exhibition space and visitor centre. Also a building know as Red Cottage has been conserved and restored to its original use as Britten’s composition studio.

The Victorian stable block had been converted to archive and administration space during the early 1990s. Since then much of the building fabric had become damaged by a combination of weathering and inappropriate renovation techniques or interventions, particularly the external brickwork and roof structures. Our project work included the repair of the existing fabric, and minor interventions to allow new uses.

The result, we think, particularly restores the culturally significant and iconic appearance of the composition studio, and is exactly how Britten would have known it. The new structure works exactly as the original as conceived by James Cadbury-Brown in his 1960s conversion, and represents a good example of how significance has been evaluated and a new design prepared to reflected that significance.

Architect Stanton Williams Architects
Client Britten-Pears Foundation
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