Architecture Wednesday: Italianate South London Artist’s Studio

The three-bedroom Italianate-style property was built in 1846 on Fulham Road and unfolds across almost 2,800 square feet, with three bedrooms and a series of exquisitely composed and airy living spaces, including a dramatic double-height kitchen on the lower ground floor. At the rear of the house, a unique barrel-vaulted Victorian artist’s studio is connected by a charming courtyard garden and an interior walkway.

The home has an intriguing history, having been the home of Mary Pickford, one of the very first female MPs, as well as renowned sculptor Uli Nimptsch. His statue of David Lloyd George, which stands in the Members’ Lobby of the House of Commons, was sculpted in the garden studio.

Designed in the neo-classical tradition, a tall gate opens to a small garden, with a York stone terrace with steps that ascend to the main entrance while down a few steps is the entry to the lower level. There is also a side entrance, leading directly to the artist’s studio to the rear.

The ground floor features a formal reception room, original plasterwork, full-height shuttered casement windows, unlacquered brass electric plates and cast-iron radiators; from the hallway you can you’re your way back to the studio or take the stairs down to the garden level with the main living areas.

The sizable kitchen is the central part of the lower-ground floor’s open-plan living space with a dramatic double-height ceiling at the rear. Space for dining is nearest these tall windows, while the central part of the space is comprised of the kitchen with a large island and plenty of storage; an additional informal seating area at the front of the floor’s plan; along with a powder room and the lower-ground entrance.

Up on the first floor is the principal suite, with its sleeping quarters at the front and a dressing room with walk-in wardrobe and spacious en suite bathroom at the rear, through wedding doors. The bathroom has French windows that open to a Juliet balcony with views of the back garden and neighboring gardens and rooftops. The second-floor features two further bedrooms and a shared bathroom with laundry facilities located behind fitted cupboards on the spacious landing.

The artist’s studio forms an independent space, with entry either from the main house or via external side access, with entrance to the hallway with a small kitchenette. A hallway leads from the entrance past the kitchenette and into the main space, a vast barrel-vaulted room with an exquisite strapwork plaster ceiling, some 26-feet deep and over 14-feet high. A huge window set into the north elevation frames views to the courtyard garden and main house, while the interior south wall is home to custom-built walnut bookcases with cupboards below. A large stone chimneypiece provides a focal point for the room, and gas supply is fitted for a fire.

The charming south-facing walled courtyard garden is enclosed and entirely private, accessible both from the lower-ground floor of the main house and the artists’ studio. Laid with York stone in a pretty pattern, the boundary wall also has willow screening above and a mature purple flowering wisteria provides a wonderful scent in springtime.

It’s a gorgeous old home, filled with history, art and politics.

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