Natural History, Wimbledon

Having visited several modernist houses in his boyhood, including Farnley Hey – one of Britain’s most celebrated modern homes – our client was sold. Falling for the property and saving it from the all-too-often Wimbledon developer fate: the bulldozer, he wanted something different. His brief was to enlarge and improve the original house while honouring its unique modernist spirit.

The result is a home that sits lightly on the land, where building and landscape are conceived as one. In keeping with our ethos, the house defers to its setting: an elegant city garden enclosed by high brick walls on all sides. The building is set back, approached through the garden rather than leading to it, so that nature frames the architecture at every turn.

To the rear, a strip of land offers a panoramic scene of ferns and lush planting — a space with a prehistoric mood that speaks to the exoskeletal structure of the original building. Our work removed the poor-quality additions, stripped the house back to its concrete frame, and carefully restored it before adding a new wing that expands both the living space and the building’s connection to the garden. Inside, the reimagined interiors lead visitors on a gentle journey through the client’s envious collection of contemporary paintings, drawings, and ceramics, with light, views, and architecture framing the art at every turn.