Must-See Photos of a Cool and Collected Townhouse in London
Eleven years ago, an Australian-American couple living in London sat next to the American architect Timothy Haynes and his partner, designer Kevin Roberts, at a dinner party. That night, a long-distance relationship and two homes were born. “My husband was like, ‘I know this friendship is going to cost me!’ ” jokes the wife.
A Broadway musical actress, she had moved from New York to London three years prior when her spouse, who’s in finance, relocated there for work. Unsure if their expatriation was long-term, the couple were renting in central London and not ready to commit to a permanent home across the pond. But in the meantime, they enlisted Haynes and Roberts to build a ground-up ski house at Montana’s exclusive Yellowstone Club.
They turned to them again in 2015. The couple, then parents to four children ranging in age from 3 to 12, were renting in the idyllic Notting Hill neighborhood when a double-wide Victorian townhouse came on the market. The rare property, whose backyard abuts a private park shared by other homes on the block, proved irresistible despite the fact that it had not been updated for a long while. Once again, the couple reached out to Haynes and Roberts to spearhead the project. They oversaw a gut renovation that transformed the aged environs into a cool-gray contemporary haven for their family and for hosting friends and clients. The massive undertaking involved installing a new structural steel cage, lifting ceiling heights, and adding a few extra vertical feet to the basement level, among other endeavors.
The kitchen, originally on the house’s entry level, was moved to the basement, where it was combined with a family room and outdoor dining area with a living wall by Arne Maynard. The space is outfitted with a reclaimed-stone floor by Paris Ceramics and 1960s swivel lounge chairs by Edward Wormley. The custom kitchen island—in Carrara marble and oak with blackened-nickel accents—has built-in slots and outlets for the kids’ laptop computers. The clever piece also doubles as a buffet during parties—and the couple is very social, hosting everything from children’s birthday gatherings to informal cocktails for their friends.
As such, they needed a deeply chic but comfortable space for entertaining. At the husband’s request, Haynes and Roberts built a knockout staircase of steel, timber treads, and polished nickel inspired by an Oscar Niemeyer design. A Henry Moore bronze sculpture keeps company with a custom velvet settee in the entrance gallery. Meanwhile, a sculptural cylindrical bar encases a white gold–and-nickel mosaic. “It’s like the inside of a fruit,” Haynes says. “Like opening up a pomegranate.”
The couple collect contemporary art, and paintings by Cecily Brown, Günther Förg, and Jason Martin add pops of color to the pearl-and-gray upholstery and decor. In the living room, a Milo Baughman sofa and George Nakashima cocktail table converse with a Shiro Kuramata metal armchair. A pair of Maria Pergay lounge chairs that Roberts had reupholstered in a silk Scalamandré tiger print are, according to the wife, “such a conversation piece.” No surface went untouched: Even the M-170 Steinway piano was given a custom satin black finish, which blends more seamlessly into the space.
One floor up is a master suite, complete with a cozy gray office featuring an Andy Warhol gun print and a bedroom anchored by a pink abstract Sue Williams painting and a wall sheathed in a metallic Gracie wallpaper. The top two floors are dedicated to the children, with bedrooms on one level and a common play area in the eaves.
“The house is 100 percent used,” says Roberts of the glamorous Art Deco–inflected rooms they’ve created. Indeed, after 14 years in their adopted city, the clients finally have a home that is theirs through and through. And should the lure of New York ever become impossible to ignore, we know whom they’ll call first. “If and when we do go back, Kevin and Tim of course will be working on our next space,” says the wife.
Produced by Cynthia Frank.
This story originally appeared in the December 2019 issue of ELLE Decor.
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