Crafting the perfect Modernist mews house

Pembridge Crescent is classic Notting Hill. The street is lined with white stucco townhouses built in the mid-nineteenth century. However, hidden behind the rows of Victorian villas lies a more discreet and private world.

This was where architect Philip Gumuchdjian designed and built a remarkable new mews property. A wide, four-storey, four-bedroom Tardis-like family home that contains light-filled living areas, four bedrooms, a gym and a home office, with contemporary interiors that make sophisticated use of natural materials.

A house of this type is only possible with clients who are committed to achieving quality. They did not have a particular design in mind, yet wanted to work to the highest degree of craftsmanship, which meant Philip could design with freedom and ambition. The project started in the summer of 2012 and finished four years later.

‘There’s a great sense of lateral spaciousness and intimacy as you walk into the building,’ says Philip, when describing the layout of the house. ‘But, as you descend the sculptural staircase, the proportions and volumes become larger. Inside, there’s a mix of generous spaces and more intimate spaces. Nothing is too grand, and the proportions always feel homely.’

Philip is unusual in the attention he pays to the experience of occupying a building: how it feels to inhabit and navigate its internal architecture. For this property, he wanted to capture as much light as possible, as well as create views onto nature. ‘Capture the outside and drag it into the interiors,’ as he phrases it.

The collaboration with landscape architect Todd Longstaff Gowan ensured the house is surrounded by rich planting. Its exterior detailing also draws on these organic textures: the dark handmade fired brickwork is flecked with yellows, while the bronze doors and windowsills will weather with time. Even the front railings were cast iron moulded from individual hazel branches, to integrate with the planting and soften what would normally be rigid designs.

This fits with Philip’s general approach – seen in his famous first commission, a timber and glass Irish riverside retreat called Think Tank – of blending the Modernist aesthetic with ‘a strong incorporation of tradition, texture and place.’

Philip worked for the Richard Rogers Partnership for 20 years, before founding his own architecture practice in 1998. The contextual and environmental impact of his buildings remains a crucial concern, as seen in his design for the Marylebone School in London, winner of the RIBA National Award in 2008. His work has since won several more awards, while he has also taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture and has been Chair of the RIBA Awards Group.

Philip has a romantic view of mews streets. ‘They are workplaces, not bespoke luxury dwellings. The volumes and materials used are utilitarian, which gives them a rough character and unfussy interiors we all love.’ Mews houses can lack open aspects, but because this building was unusually neither facing nor backing onto another property, Philip was able to ‘generate open aspects towards trees, plants and sky.’

In fact, Philip mixed the traditional attributes of a mews with the workshops sometimes found in a French hôtel particulier. ‘I was trying to be in Paris somewhere: the courtyard with the glass atelier. A working space but terribly smart at the same time.’

During the building process, Philip was working on two new modern houses in Chelsea. These were large, formal addresses, and Mlinaric and Deniot had been commissioned for the interiors. On Pembridge Crescent, he had the chance to design both interior and exterior: a bespoke piece for individualistic clients that he ‘tried to make into a jewel.’

He stresses that building a house of this quality is a massive team effort. ‘You are totally dependent on the commitment and craftsmanship of the entire construction team.’ In this case, work was constrained by the limited site access and the fact that they were fitting a great deal into a small plot. Despite all the constraints, ‘the quality of workmanship was exceptionally high.’

He wants the future owners to feel ‘free and liberated within the building. Every room should be a pleasure to be in, and, as you walk through the house, you are enjoying as much of it as possible.’

Explore Pembridge Crescent.

Gumuchdijan Architects