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LocationLondon
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Project TypeResidential
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Year2007
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Size570SQM
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CollaboratorsStudio MR
Clifton had the enviable task of sensitively enlivening this mid-century masterpiece on the edge of Hampstead Heath in 2007. This unusual 1960s Grade II listed property was originally designed to be a striking contemporary home. Through a sensitive approach and a respect for its strong architectural language, Listed Building Consent was secured to bring this house into the 21st century.
As well as a complete overhaul of existing services, the project also involved the design of a painting studio in the garden, conversion of an existing swimming pool into a games room and complete renewal of the hard and soft landscaping.
For the interiors, specially commissioned artwork and furniture set colour against the exposed brick walls and the timber ceilings in the main entertainment rooms. Original pieces of furniture and lighting from the 1960s and 70s were sourced and placed throughout, and bespoke joinery was made to fit this complex Grade II listed property.
Modernist Masterpiece
In 1965 Mr Peter Epstein commissioned the architects Higgins Ney & Partners to design a contemporary new home at 8a Fitzroy Park.
In describing the evolution of 8a Fitzroy Park, Higgins speaks of a design process with his client considering a range of options for the arrangement of pavilions around a central living space. It is this arrangement of domestic facilities – sleeping, bathing, eating etc., stacked on the slope of the site, that leads to the visual and spacial complexity of the house.
The house was completed for the Epsteins in 1967 to great acclaim. “It is rare to find a house that succeeds as a dramatic piece of architecture and as a home’’ – Colin Amery, The Architects Journal, 1973
In 2005, our client agreed to purchase of the property from the Epstein Estate. Unusual for a house in London to have served as home for just one family for nearly four decades. Very little had changed in the house since its completion, the services infrastructure and much of the building’s fabric, finishes and fittings had become very antiquated. A sensitive refurbishment and restoration was required to bring the house into the 21st Century and provide a new family with a beautiful and functional home.
Rosie
