Stately 1830s architecture meets cutting-edge art and design in a historic home updated for a collector.
In 1913, at the same address, leading society hostess Lady Hamilton created a showcase for the Bloomsbury Group’s newly established design collective, the Omega Workshops (the critic Roger Fry advised her on the decor, and Virginia Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell was among the contributing artists). So it is entirely appropriate that, a century later, the property’s present owner—a Hong Kong–based art collector with strong ties to several European museums and galleries—has reintroduced a forward-thinking aesthetic to the place, this time with a wide-ranging international selection of pieces by designers like Mattia Bonetti and Martin Szekely and such artists as Adam Fuss, Gabriel Kuri, Fiona Rae, Anselm Reyle, and Keith Tyson.
In the drawing room, a Steinway piano is positioned between a light sculpture by Elizabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti and a cabinet by Bonetti. Over the cabinet hangs a sculpture by Thomas Houseago, while a painting by Keith Coventry is displayed above a Martin Szekely console nearby. The clear cylindrical side table is also by Szekely, and the crocodile stool is by Claude Lalanne.
A sinuous mirrored table by Ron Arad separates twin sofas designed by Sultana; the white geometric side table is by Bonetti, and the carpet is by Fort Street Studio.
At one end of the drawing room, a Jean Royère sofa is grouped with Bonetti polished-steel side tables and a Charlotte Perriand bench with a cushion covered in an Edelman Leather cowhide; the large framed painting near the window is by Anselm Reyle, the photograph on the mantel is a piece by Marlo Pascual, and the pair of table lamps is by Garouste and Bonetti.
A Fredrikson Stallardlight fixture hangs over the first-floor dining table, which is topped with a trio of Ai Weiwei vases and lined with Bonetti chairs.
At one end of the first-floor dining room, Vladimir Kagansofas frame a Willy Rizzo table; the photograph above the fireplace is by Wolfgang Tillmans, and the sculptures are by Rebecca Warren.
In the garden-level dining room, a painting by Fiona Rae overlooks a Szekely table and chairs.
The garden-level kitchen’s cabinetry is by Minotti Cucine, with a cooktop by Wolf and barstools by Sultana; the sculpture at right is by Nicole Wermers.
On display at the top of the stairway are a wall-size work by Keith Tyson and a Cerith Wyn Evans light installation.
A two-panel painting by John Stezaker graces the partition that conceals a bath within the master bedroom; the bed and chaise longues were designed by Sultana.
The master bedroom’s closet, customized by Sultana, has palladium-leaf doors; the carpet is by Fort Street Studio.
In the master bath, a work by Aaron Curry is reflected in the mirror; the vanity is by Bonetti, and the sink fittings are by Grohe.
Mirrors by FontanaArte and pendant lights by Garouste flank a Nigel Cooke painting above a guest-room fireplace; the chairs are vintage Jansen, and the carpet is by Fort Street Studio.
A tub by the Water Monopoly is matched with a Corian vanity by DuPont in a second-floor bath; the sink and tub fittings are by Grohe, and the floor is statuary marble.
The children’s bed- and-library unit was designed by Croft; a Campana brothers stuffed-animal chair sits on a Fort Street Studio carpet, and the artwork at right is a photogram by Adam Fuss.
On the terrace, a Sultana-designed sofa clad in a Scalamandré fabric is grouped with two Fredrikson Stallard tables and an André Dubreuil chair.
The white stucco exterior of the late-Georgian residence.
MariaMarakiMou
May 3, 2014 at 10:28 am
A 19th-Century London Townhouse Gets An Avant-Garde New Look http://t.co/wkdiQtP3Ec http://t.co/b3hZT15TAu