ABOVE LEFT, DYSON’S
‘CU BEAM’ HANGING LIGHT
IN THE MAIN BOARDROOM
ABOVE RIGHT, THE TERRACE
WALL OUTSIDE THE GARDEN
ROOM IS CLAD IN WOOD AND
COPPER SLATS, WHICH IS
REFLECTED IN THE ROOM’S
NEW COPPER-STRIPED RUGwith Martin’s design team to ensure each individual
carpet picks up on colours and details in the
architecture, as well as creating related groups of
designs on each individual loor.
For the architects, the main challenge was balancing
the old and the new without giving either a dominant
role. ‘It was a tricky planning process,’ admits Martin.
The house had been subdivided and ‘messed around
with’; many original details were missing or had been
damaged during the years it was partitioned into
various oices. Some elements had to be completely
rebuilt, such as the staircase; Martin created a precise
reproduction (complete with turned-oak balusters and
set forward in the hallway so as to conceal a new lift
behind it) that services all loors. The top two loors are
given over to oice space, with lowered ceilings and
modern, rather than classical, detailing. The staircase
culminates beneath a vast glass roolight, with a smaller
staircase leading up to the neatly concealed roof
terrace and its bird’s-eye view of hitherto unseen
Mayfair, a landscape of aerials and chimneys.
The main boardroom is located in the expansive
lower ground loor, which runs beneath the adjoining
house and opens up to a small courtyard, with a
precisely engineered steel and concrete staircase
leading up to the terrace above. ‘We always try to get
in as much contemporary stuf as possible,’ says Martin,
pointing out the bespoke cabinets for ventilation,
AV and drinks storage that occupy each boardroom
space. These were made by joinery specialist Howard
Bros and helpfully avoid the need for disrupting the
proportions or mouldings in the walls and ceilings.
The other dominant feature is those bespoke
carpets. ‘It gives a domestic touch, as well as some
luxury,’ says Deirdre, who has worked her magic on
every room, using a combination of tufted carpets
made in the UK, and loom-woven rugs made in
traditional workshops in Nepal. ‘I tried to make them
tie in to Alexander’s interior palette,’ she says, ‘and
link a little bit of the colour.’ This task was made all
the more diicult as she had to design the loor
coverings without sight of the inished rooms. Uniting
the entire structure is a bespoke stair runner, with a
subtle graded coloration that lows from dark to light.
Graded hues also deine the freestanding and itted
coverings, which use both wool and silk, with »‘I tried to make the carpets
tie in to the interior palette and
link a little bit of the colour’
Officepaper*
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