House of Panes, Muswell Hill
Set in Muswell Hill, North London, the house was a jumble of disconnected rooms spread across awkward levels, a puzzle of spaces that didn’t quite speak to each other. Our clients – a former vintage furniture dealer and her family of five (three lively children and a few curious cats) – brought warmth, humour, and a spirit of adventure to the process.
They wanted everything: a full retrofit, inside and out, a house that felt coherent yet alive, practical yet brimming with character.
The solution was not to fight the building’s eccentric levels but to embrace them. Instead of flattening, straightening, or simplifying, we celebrated the jumps in height, the shifts in volume. The result is a choreography of spaces: soaring double- and triple-height halls where light floods in like a museum atrium, contrasted with low, intimate corners where the family can read, talk, or simply be.
This dance between grandeur and cosiness, openness and enclosure, gives the house its rhythm. Vast spaces unfold into sheltered retreats. Long views cut through the plan, offering glimpses of children running upstairs, cats basking in the sunlight, life happening across layers.
The architecture holds it all together – robust and calm – while the client’s love of vintage pieces brings warmth, colour, and texture, turning every room into a moment of discovery.
- Architecture
- Matthew Giles Architects
- Interior Design
- Matthew Giles Architects
- Structures
- Timothy George
- Photography
- French & Tye