Light & Linear

Penthouse living wasn’t always as desirable as it is today, but the 1920s marked a turning point. Fuelled by the skyscraper boom in New York, the top floor of London’s apartment blocks started to lose their associations with servants’ garrets and gained a more glossy allure. One such apartment in London’s Portland Place has just been transformed by design studio Wendover into a family home that blends the original historical context with contemporary living.

The original space presented its challenges. Despite a generous size of 350 sqm, it is described as “all rather poky” by Wendover’s co-founder Gabriel Chipperfield. “It felt enormous, but also confusing. We got a bit lost when we first went there. We decided to put all of our effort and focus into making a really clear and clean access, whereby you could see from one end to the other.”

The L-shaped layout has been redesigned to create a core living zone of living, kitchen and dining areas, plus the master suite; with the children’s and guest bedrooms on the other side. At the crook of the L-shape is the apartment’s most striking space, a large entrance hall topped by a 10 sqm rooflight, which incorporates low-iron glass for extra clarity, making the room feel almost like an outdoor courtyard or airy atrium, suspended in the sky. “We went to planning to see how far we could build up those rooflights to give them more height,” says Chipperfield. “When you’re underneath, it feels like you’re in this incredibly cavernous space.”

Beneath the glazed portion of the room, the cube-patterned oak flooring changes to travertine in the same pattern, creating the impression of a stone rug at the centre of the space but also nodding to the idea that this could be an open atrium (the same pattern has been translated into soft carpet in the dressing room).

Features like the rooflight help to give the illusion of greater height than the reality: the ceilings run at 2.6m high, but given the large size of the rooms and the lateral floorplan, there was a danger that the apartment could still feel oppressive. “Luckily, we’ve been in this situation before, so we know there are certain tricks you can apply to combat that,” says Chipperfield. “One of them is not to allow a room to become too wide, if it’s also low” – so features such as the curving floor-to-ceiling bar area break up the space; doors are full-height to the ceiling; and larger statement lighting is reserved for those areas where they won’t be walked under, such as above the dining table.

This material palette of stone and timber is repeated throughout. A number of stone and marble finishes have been used, most strikingly in the bathroom, split smack down the middle into dark green and blush pink, covering every surface including the serrated-surround bath. “It was a play on the idea that having your own bathroom is the ultimate aspiration as a married couple,” says Chipperfield – but here instead we have the ‘his’ and hers’, masculine and feminine, within the same playful room.

The green stone is picked up in the kitchen, where cabinetry in a soft sage has been paired with countertops and splashbacks in a marble called ‘lady green’, which has large-scale veining in a similar muted shade as the paintwork. Wendover worked with master joiner Stan Tarver on the joinery in the apartment, which is either painted or is in the same stained oak used for the floor. From lining deep window reveals to creating panelling (with upholstered inserts) in the dressing rooms, the oak’s rich tones create warmth and harmony throughout.

This was a complete strip-out and rebuild project, ensuring that this home will be futureproofed for the next generation, but it came with its difficulties, especially given its top-floor location. “We scaffolded the whole rear of the building and there was one tiny service elevator,” says Chipperfield – and it must have been a nail-biting day when that 10 sqm rooflight was craned into place, high above the rooftops of Portland Place. “There were huge logistical challenges, but ultimately it makes the building that much more special,” he concludes. “These are contextual hurdles that make it all the more worthwhile in the end.”