Daniel Craig and wife Rachel Weisz lock horns with neighbours in row over extension at their Grade II-listed £6m home
DANIEL Craig and his wife Rachel Weisz have locked horns with neighbours in a row over an extension at their Grade II-listed £6million home.
The James Bond star and his Oscar-winning actress plan to knock down a 20th century conservatory at their Victorian house in North London.
The couple – who live in a £3.2 million house – also want to split up the ground floor double reception room into two, move the kitchen and replace the first floor.
However, fuming locals have blasted the move, claiming they would not fit in with the 1840 terraced home style.
The plans were submitted to Camden Council back in September.
The pair’s planning agents said the decision to replace the existing late 20th century conservatory is due to it being “poorly constructed” and “inefficient”.
They added: “It is very cold in the winter and it overheats in the summer.
“The enlarged extension allows the kitchen (the busiest room in the house) to be relocated to the rear of the property giving it direct contact with the garden and much improved natural light.
“Internally the spine wall between the ground floor reception rooms would be healed and the existing double doors from the entrance hall separated and re-hung as single doors into the respective reception rooms.
“So the most important rooms in the house would be reinstated to their original form.
“On the ground floor closet wing the existing study would be subdivided to allow the introduction of a guest WC, providing a much needed facility serving the principle rooms of the house.
“The second floor closet wing rear window is, currently, a modern side hung casement.
“It is proposed to replace this with a French door style window with narrower frames and glazing bars.”
But Camden Council’s Conservation Area Committee fear the works could destroy the mansion’s Victorian charm.
On behalf of the committee, Richard Simpson lodged a complaint and said the new extension replacing the conservatory “would not be in harmony with the original form of the house”.
The committee also voiced concerns about axing the first floor window as it would destroy a historic pattern from the Victorian.
Mr Simpson said the marginal glazing is “a characteristic of the windows in houses of this date” in the local area.
A decision on the planning application is due to be made later this month.
And if the plans are approved, work could start in April next year.
Craig’s representatives have been approached for comment.
It comes after the star was caught up in a separate row about a 65ft tree at the mansion.
Neighbours applied to chop down the tree, thinking it was causing subsidence to their homes.
But the tree was saved after Craig, 55, and Weisz, 53, offered to cut the tree back.