Architecture Wednesday: White Lion Court

This White Lion Court building on Garrett Street was once the recording studio of The Pet Shop Boys and now this sublime former warehouse is anonymously set behind a walled courtyard and contains approximately 4,400 square feet of versatile internal space in addition to a substantial south-facing roof terrace.

Victorian in origin, the building was once associated with the Whitbread Brewery though it has also been a smithy, a stable and fodder store, an engine house, sawmill and workshops. Much of the intention of the designer was to draw out as much of the history and character as possible by exposing the original brickwork, roof trusses and massive timber beams.

Despite the proud announcement of its number on Garrett Street, the high yellow-stock brick wall and timber-gated entrance reveals little of the rare house that lies beyond. Step through the humble trade door, which rests within a vehicular gate, and you enters a partially cobbled, concrete courtyard to a front door of towering glazing. Beyond the threshold, a wide hallway leads ahead to a cloakroom, guest bathroom, two offices—one with its own shower room—and the other with a small kitchen, which opens up to the former, though still soundproofed, recording studio.

A weathered timber staircase rises through the center of the home to the first floor, where a breathtaking open-plan reception area that spans some 55 feet beneath lengths of exposed timber beams; the room contains a kitchen at one end, a dining area in the middle, and living space on the other end with double doors on to a substantial south-facing roof terrace.

A rich and eclectic material palette has been employed throughout, including reclaimed timber paneling, teak counter tops, polished concrete, patterned Moroccan tiles, blackened steel, colored and reeded glass and even fossil limestone flooring retrieved from the renovation of London Heathrow’s Terminal 2; all the external doors and windows have been replaced with double-glazed Crittall steel.

On the second floor are two further bedrooms at first-floor level, both en suite, and an open plan studio and office, which can double as a fourth bedroom. Towering vaulted ceilings are clad in white timber and electric skylights pour light from above. The principal bedroom occupies the western side of the plan and is arranged around an open dressing room and large bathroom.

Garrett Street is a quiet lane that runs parallel to Old Street and is popular with architects and design studios, and is renowned for the quality and variety of its bars, pubs and restaurants, most notably the nearby St. John and Luca. The Barbican Centre, with its world-class cultural program of cinema, music, theatre, talks and exhibitions, is a few minutes’ walk from the house while at the end of the road is Whitecross Street, which holds a weekly lunchtime food market.

And it could be yours for £6,000,000 or $8,234,000 USD.

As always, click to emBIGGERate …

The Modern House