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Heart and home: Musson Brown Architects

Musson Brown Architects
www.mussonbrown.co.uk
Instagram: mussonbrownarchitects

Words by Sian Anderson
Photography by Mike Sreenan

For George Musson and Victoria Brown, co-founders of Musson Brown Architects, the best projects aren’t defined by budgets or accolades, but by the people behind them. Here, as the firm marks five years in business, the husband-and-wife team speak to Sian Anderson, reflecting on trust, growth and building a practice founded on human relationships.

The projects George Musson and Victoria Brown remember most aren’t necessarily the grandest ones. Nor are they always the most architecturally ambitious.

Instead, one of the first stories the founders of Musson Brown Architects tell is about two childhood sweethearts who spent years admiring the same house in the North East and dreaming of making it their own.

Years later, when the property came onto the market, they knocked on the door, agreed a price and began a journey that would turn into a Jesmond-based practice.

That journey is about a house, but it is also about people, which perhaps explains everything you need to know about Musson Brown Architects.

Five years after launching the practice, that distinction remains central to everything George and Victoria do.

Indeed, their website’s mantra is, ‘we believe good work comes from being good to work with’.

Throughout our conversation marking the practice’s fifth anniversary, one theme surfaces time and again: architecture begins and ends with people.

George says: “We’re not very architect-y architects.

“We like the more human side of it.”

Victoria adds: “That’s what makes it rewarding for us.

“It’s more about the people that are going to live there than the building itself.”

The approach has seen Musson Brown work on everything from family homes and period renovations to school conversions, commercial developments and award-winning coastal properties.

Yet despite the variety of projects, George and Victoria always return to the same starting point: understanding the people who will ultimately use the space.

Victoria says: “A really lovely project is one that delivers the brief exactly as the client needs and wants, and that they’re really happy at the end.”

The practice was born from a moment of change.

In 2020, as George’s previous firm underwent a period of transition and the world grappled with the uncertainty of the pandemic, the couple saw an opportunity to create something of their own.

Launching an architectural practice as the world came to a standstill might not have seemed the most obvious move, but for George and Victoria it offered the chance to build a business around the values that mattered most to them, while retaining the team they had worked alongside for years.

Five years on, that leap of faith has evolved into an award-winning practice working across residential and commercial sectors, yet the principles underpinning it remain remarkably unchanged.

Perhaps that philosophy is one reason they have found such a natural home in the North East.

The couple attended Newcastle University, live in Gosforth and run their practice from Jesmond’s Clayton Road.

But neither are born-and-bred northerners.

Indeed, in the early days of their relationship, the plan was never to stay long-term.

George says: “We bought a flat and thought we’d move on, but now it feels like we’re quite firmly rooted here.

“As a city, Newcastle feels very comfortable, almost like a village.

“You bump into the same faces.”

Victoria is quick to agree, pointing to the city’s unique layout and accessibility.

She adds: “It’s quite unusual for the suburbs to be so tight to the city, to wander in and have everything on your doorstep.”

Their affection for the region is reflected in the projects they choose to work on.

Many are embedded in the communities they now call home.

We meet at Victorian Towers, in Gosforth, a landmark residential project that has journeyed alongside the practice for five years and is finally nearing completion, with the building’s new owners expected to move in next autumn.

Standing in the shell of the building, with views stretching across Gosforth, it’s easy to see why the project has become a defining chapter in the practice’s first five years.

Once complete, it will bring a prominent local landmark back into residential use, blending heritage, craftsmanship and contemporary living.

Like many of the practice’s projects, Victorian Towers has required patience, collaboration and a clear division of responsibilities – something that comes naturally to the married couple.

Victoria says: “The key to us working together is the fact we do different things.

“We have different roles and different strengths.”

Their process begins with conversation, rather than drawings.

The early client meetings are an exercise in listening, allowing people to talk through how they live, work and use a space before any design takes shape.

Victoria adds: “You ask clients to talk and you just listen; you start picking things up.”

It is an approach that has earned the practice not only loyal clients, but industry recognition too.

Most recently, the firm received the 2026 Royal Institute of British Architects North East Award for a residential project.

George says: “I think clients like it when they’ve spent three or four years of their life investing in a project to see it recognised.”

Yet awards tell only part of the story.

The practice’s most significant growth has come not through accolades, but through relationships.

The thread running through it all is people.

Whether designing a forever home or a company headquarters, George and Victoria are less interested in the building itself than the lives, ambitions and stories it is designed to support.

And that human-centred approach is increasingly taking Musson Brown beyond the family home and into the commercial world.

Having trusted Musson Brown with their homes, many of their clients have asked the duo to help shape their offices, developments and business premises too.

George says: “People like the way we work and they like the client relationships.

“From that, we’ve developed into the commercial world but with the personal touch, which fits for us.”

Victoria adds: “The skills you need working on a high-end residential project – attention to detail, delivery and service – are a real strength of ours.”

Despite expanding into new sectors, the couple remain deeply connected to the region that helped shape their careers and their practice.

Asked to name the North East’s most inspiring architecture, their answers are telling.

George points not to a single building but the wider landscape.

He says: “It’s what’s on the Northumberland coastline or what you see when you walk down Newcastle’s Grey Street.

“It’s a beautiful city.”

Victoria, meanwhile, points to Newcastle Civic Centre, admiring a building whose striking design has stood the test of time and remains as relevant today as when it was first conceived.

She adds: “It was quite cutting-edge at that time; there are still things we were taught at university in terms of your lines of sight and use of spaces.

“From an architectural perspective, it’s very successful.”

When the couple muse over the next five years, awards and acclaim aren’t the first thing that comes to mind.

George says: “We want to be recognised for the service we offer and the way we approach projects.

“I don’t think we have any desire to be a huge practice or huge studio.”

Victoria, meanwhile, is motivated by the opportunity to tackle projects that challenge and inspire.

She adds: “We want to have work that’s really interesting.”

Their office feels entirely in keeping with the practice’s ethos.

Tucked away among a quietly charming stretch of independent businesses, from interior shops and wellness studios to neighbourhood cafes and characterful storefronts, it feels less like a place of work and more like an extension of the community.

Inside, ideas move around a communal table that houses the firm’s eight-strong team, shifting from conversation to concept and, more often than not, back again when a familiar client walks through the door with something new in mind.

Five years in, the foundations of the practice remain remarkably simple: listen carefully, work collaboratively and remember that every building begins with a person.

And at its heart are two childhood sweethearts and the house they’d always hoped would be their home one day.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by N Magazine .