Tremmel Properties is a company which specialises in restoring and refurbishing period properties, so it comes as no surprise that the owners, Katrina and Ron Tremmel, practise what they preach. The couple’s home in Edinburgh’s Ann Street isn’t just another project to renovate and sell on; it’s a living, breathing piece of history.

The couple bought the four storey town house 11 years ago, as Katrina explains: ‘We’d always liked the location and had viewed two or three houses in Ann Street. I liked the history and the romantic nature – it being named after Sir Henry Raeburn’s wife. He started building the street in 1817 and it was virtually completed according to the original plan two years after his death in 1823. However, I was completely captivated by this particular house. I loved the Georgian features, the curve in the dining room and the gardens.’ The sense of community was another selling point. ‘Ann Street is one where the houses are cherished and everyone looks out for their neighbours,’ says Katrina.

The Ann Street Residents’ Association is also an active one, with Christmas Eve carol singing just one of the annual features. However, although the location and the property ticked all the boxes there was still plenty of work to be done. The property required extensive renovation, including upgrading the plumbing, heating and electrics, and the décor was rather dated, with an abundance of florals and pine panelling. Katrina’s talents as an interior designer and Ron’s as a conservation architect were quickly put to good use.

Back to basics The first step was to get back to basics. The doors and shutters on the ground floor and in the basement were stripped, and some of the floors were sanded as well. ‘For the first few months we had no heating, no doors and no shutters, so for a while we were effectively camping!’ says Katrina with a smile. The inconvenience has been worth it as Katrina and Ron have created an elegant and stylish interior that is in keeping with the age of the property yet also provides a wonderful family home. The Tremmels weren’t the first family to enjoy the house though, as Katrina was informed by a previous resident: ‘We had an article published in The Sunday Times after we’d sold a house to Ian Rankin and it mentioned our house in Ann Street and Felicity (Lucking) read it. Astonished to discover it was the house she had grown up in the 1920s, she wrote to us. We’ve corresponded over a period of five or six letters and it’s lovely to have that contact. I think it’s made the history of the house and the street come alive.’

Unusual history

Felicity’s letters provided some insight into the unusual history of the house, too. Before Felicity’s family moved in the house had been used as a nursing home, as Felicity wrote: ‘As a result we inherited a hot and cold wash basin in the main bedroom which was something of a luxury in those days.

It was, we were told, because that bedroom had been the operating theatre! We also inherited a strange canvas stretcher which made a very good swing hammock in the back garden.’ The basement was servants’ territory in Felicity’s time, but now it’s where the Tremmels have a double bedroom, bathroom, family room with dining recess and a small kitchen. ‘In the basement, two maids shared the large bedroom – their only toilet facilities being an outside WC opposite the back door and the kitchen sink. There was also a large box room where my mother kept her linen in a large builtin cupboard. The big kitchen and wash house faced the garden.

All the cooking was done on a large black kitchen range. This also heated the water. If cook had failed to clean the flues the water was cold and all hell was let loose,’ writes Felicity. The house today is rather different to Felicity’s memories, but Katrina has retained the period feel throughout. In the basement the range recess now houses a wood burning stove and there’s no wash house but there is still a small kitchen.

At the front the double bedroom is now light and airy, decorated in pink and creams with pretty toile de Jouy drapes. However, the bathroom across the hallway is certainly more glamorous than Felicity would ever have had, with elegant pilasters and mirrors adorning the walls. On the ground floor, the original day nursery and eventual sitting room is now a kitchen fitted with a bespoke design from Olympian Pine.

In the vestibule, Katrina has complemented the existing original features by adding hand carved pilasters which came from a house in Moray Place and installing a real Thomas Crapper in the cloakroom WC. The first floor drawing room has an original fireplace, although Katrina did have to reinstate the one in the master bedroom. The children, Katy (18), Donald (21) and Philip (11) have taken over the top floor, but it’s no longer ‘all unheated and bitterly cold’ as Felicity remembers. Reading through Felicity’s letters, one can see why the Tremmels feel this insight has brought the house alive. ‘I’ve always appreciated period properties,’ says Katrina. ‘Contemporary design has its place, but one has to be careful because like computers it can become outdated very quickly. A period style handled correctly is timeless and should mature and enhance as the years go on.’ Put like that, this property still has plenty growing up to do.

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Tremmel Properties, 9a India St, Edinburgh, EH3 6HA Tel: 0131 226 7518 Fax: 0131 225 7167 Email: contact@ tremmelproperties. com, www. tremmelproperties. com