After eight years of an intensive search, it was finally over. Architect and building owner Rodolfo Nogales had found his dream home: a neglected late 19th-century townhouse from 1903 in dire need of restoration. Far removed from the charm and generosity of classical period architecture. Yet Nogales recognized something others missed—the hidden potential concealed behind the aging walls. The path to revitalization would prove arduous. The architect placed his trust in over 50 skilled craftspeople who supported him with extraordinary ideas for eight months. The result speaks for itself.

Nogales gained his first real impression of the interior only after all tenants—who had lived in a kind of shared housing arrangement and given the building its soul for years—had moved out. Each floor held three apartments, and the toilet in the stairwell remained shared, as had been customary over a century before. For the redesign, Nogales envisioned individual units on each floor, each approximately 95 m². "My goal was to create an efficient floor plan and adapt the spatial structures to modern living and lifestyle needs," he explains. But first, a word about the facade: "A chapter unto itself," the architect insists. "The ornately decorated stucco facade was covered with coarse acrylic plaster that had penetrated sections behind the weatherproofing layers. For structural and aesthetic reasons, I decided to remove the plaster entirely." An undertaking of considerable magnitude. Grinding, sandblasting, dry ice blasting—every attempt fell short. The final solution was burning it off. And remarkably, layer by layer, the plaster could be carefully burned away over weeks. "The stucco had been so well preserved beneath the plaster that the facade elements emerged completely intact."

This meticulous approach to preserving the valuable original substance continues throughout the interior. Standing in the stairwell today, one can only imagine the condition the house was in not long ago. Stair treads, railings, walls, ceilings, and doors have all been expertly restored. Combined with vintage wiring intentionally left exposed on the walls, they document history and memory in an artistic way. In his own residence, where Nogales lives with his family, he eliminated unnecessary hallways, creating instead a unified entry, kitchen, and living and dining area. The striking cube clad in the finest buffalo leather in the kitchen houses not a refrigerator and appliances, but rather a wardrobe. Adjacent to it, a kitchen island that doubles as a "reception counter" for guests forms the heart of the kitchen-living space. The adjacent kitchen table is a relic left behind by the previous tenant. Its once-white surfaces were sanded back to reveal their natural wood tone. Despite years of use, the table still extends to nearly three meters, providing ample space for welcome guests. The backsplash of the kitchen cabinetry draws further attention—executed as a backlit, printed glass surface. "I wanted to make another piece of the house's history visible at this seemingly ordinary spot. I quickly decided on a motif from the vaulted cellar, photographed by a friend during one of our photo sessions using the 'light painting' technique. The image was created in complete darkness with an extremely long exposure, lit only by a hand torch when the shutter released," Nogales explains, adding: "Truly impressive."

On the other side of the kitchen sits the living room. Here too, the architect pursued the concept of "a room within a room": "The bathroom wall facing the living space was executed in slate with horizontal layering. This material transition allows the floor-to-ceiling cube to separate itself gracefully from the living space, in a sense." Precise craftwork was carried through to the smallest detail—window reveals, door frames, and hardware—with the goal of reviving the distinctive architectural features of past eras in all their original splendor. "We appreciate the result every day," Nogales concludes.

www.grimbacher-nogales.de

(Published in CUBE Düsseldorf 01|21)