Property of the Week: This old printing factory on Epworth Street in Shoreditch has the old Home Office’s reclaimed parquet flooring
For the first time in almost a decade, this unique home has gone on the market in a former Victorian printing factory in the heart of Shoreditch. It was transformed from an industrial 80s development into the light and airy family home it is today by Julie Sibley, an Ayurvedic medical practitioner who lives on Epworth Street with her creative director husband and her son.
Tucked away in between Great Eastern Street and City Road, it’s a four bedroom, three bathroom apartment set across two floors. When Julie bought it, she set about restoring some of its period features, and now it’s packed with gems like huge crittall windows, exposed beams and brickwork and the original loading bay doors. The herringbone parquet flooring on the ground floor was reclaimed from the old Home Office, no less.
“I knew I wanted an old wooden floor,” says Julie, “and I went to Lassco to see if I could find something that was the same age as the building and this was on sale. It was in a pretty horrible state at the time, but we got this amazing local guy to lay it and, when it was sanded off, it was really worth the mess and the investment.”
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Another favourite of Julie’s is the kitchen looking out onto a secluded walled courtyard, where she eats her lunch while watching a family of nesting blackbirds, “which is quite nice, especially in the city.” Neon furniture and art pieces are scattered all over the apartment to add a modern touch – a nod to her days working for a textiles and colour consultancy.
A lot has changed since Julie moved to Shoreditch 24 years ago, including house prices, but “we always wanted it as a family home, not an investment,” she says. “We’ve loved living here but I think we’re going to move somewhere where there’s a few more trees for something completely different.”
Epworth Street, Shoreditch, guide price £2.5m. Call Savills Shoreditch on 0207 578 6200
