House, Little Venice

A discreet door in a sidewall off a quiet side street provides the entrance to this intriguing house dubbed ‘The Thunderbird House’. Named as such due its huge, pivoting, hydraulic glass wall, which opens onto an enclosed garden. The unassuming Victorian brick coach house frontage was retained and restored, while the rest of the house was newly built in black zinc and glass. The contrasting architecture compliments its more traditional white stucco neighbours.

Inside there’s a deliberate duality to the look and mood of the private and public areas of the house, which is highlighted by a concealed pivoting brick wall hidden within the engineering brickwork. Sleeping quarters are theatrical and dark, while a slab of structural glass in the floor of the main living space hints at an underground library and screening room below.

• Winner of The Daily Telegraph British Homes Awards 2011 Interior Design Category
• Finalist in the New London Awards 2011
• Finalist in the World Architecture News Interior Design Awards 2011

Location: City of Westminster, London

Date: 2011

Floor Area: 330 sqm

Photographer: Richard Powers

The World of Interiors
March 2012
Read the article

The Telegraphy Luxury
July 2013
Read the article

Left: A huge hydraulically-operated door pivots open from the living room into the garden primarily to provide a canopy to enable smokers to enjoy the garden in the rain. Right: The sunken kitchen was inspired by Frank Sinatra's in Palm Springs.
View of the double height living space from the dining area.
So much thought, intelligence and passion is here… it’s so inventive and quite magical.
John Pawson CBE
Left: A winch with gears can be wound to raise and lower a chandelier designed for the project over the dining table. Right: A secret door in the brick wall leads to the bedroom and links the original coach house to the new parts of the building.
The basement houses a chestnut leather sunken conversation pit and adjacent bar for watching movies.
Master bedroom in the old coach house reuses the original parquet floor from the old workshop and has double height shuttered windows onto a walled garden. The TV can be winched up to the mezzanine to watch movies in the bath above.