Why so serious? One modern home in London highlights a playful approach to design with a range of influences from style icons like Frank Sinatra and the French architect and furniture designer Charlotte Perriand, in addition to a retractable skylight, a sunken kitchen, and a hidden primary suite. Listed for $11.9 million with Zach Madison of Sotheby’s International Realty, this trophy listing offers more than bragging rights.
Tucked behind gated entry on Warwick Place, the two-bedroom townhouse was reimagined by architecture studio Wells Mackereth, a local outfit that was known for its bold residential and commercial projects from New York to Seoul that juxtapose natural materials like wood and steel for a jarring contrast that creates tension in each space. Sally Mackereth co-founded the firm in 1995 and later, in 2013, went on to found Studio Mackereth.
The subterranean library orbits around a chestnut leather conversation pit.
Dimitrios Sofianopoulos
The 24-foot-long entrance hall leads into the 1,100-square-foot great room where double-height ceilings soar over the kitchen, living, and dining areas. Standing here, it’s a no-brainer why the pad won the Daily Telegraph British Homes Awards in 2011 for interior design and was a finalist in both the New London Awards and World Architecture News Interior awards.
Concrete floors spanning the ground floor, inspired by Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms estate in Palm Springs, are one reason for this pad’s high marks. The sunken kitchen with a massive island is another awe-inspiring factor, next to exposed beams that accent the room’s dark terracotta and black accent walls. A gigantic, awning-style glass panel pivots open to the backyard, while a segment of glass in the floor alongside the kitchen’s long island allows you to peer down into the basement-level library/cinema where a groovy chestnut leather conversation pit anchors the space, next to a fireplace and Charlotte Perriand-inspired bookshelves.
The primary suite features a lofted bathroom and French doors to a walled courtyard garden.
Dimitrios Sofianopoulos
Mackereth’s lighthearted approach to design carries over to the primary suite, which is cleverly concealed behind a massive, weighted door faced with black bricks. The room is set in the original part of the building, or the old coach house, according to the listing. Antique chevron wood flooring makes a statement in the suite, where a king-sized bed fits under an upholstered canopy, on top of which sits the lofted bathroom. There’s a fitted dressing area tucked behind the bed, and cathedral ceilings soar over the room, which opens via several sets of French doors to a courtyard garden.
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Elsewhere, a mezzanine-level study with a built-in desk looks down into the great room. It is this space that could become the home’s second, albeit not entirely private bedroom. A rooftop terrace and single-car garage plus additional off-street parking are a few other key features of the residence that is in close proximity to Little Venice’s shops and cafes, plus Regent’s Canal.
Click here for more photos of the London residence.
Dimitrios Sofianopoulos
Authors
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Demetrius Simms