By Lara Olszowska
When Torquil and Jessie McIntosh found their London home it was completely unmodernised — save for some electrical work it had barely been touched for a century. “There were sinks in the bedrooms, an outside loo and no extensions,” says Jessie, “so we saw that as a blank slate”.
The couple met in 2001 while working at Future Systems, the innovative design office founded in 1979 by neo-futuristic Czech architect Jan Kaplický. Jessie worked on the firm’s award-winning design for Selfridges in Birmingham, before setting up her own practice. Torquil, meanwhile, co-founded Sybarite, a global design studio specialising in luxury retail, in 2002.
“What Torquil and I have always been interested in is taking something that is of an era and then adding to it, but retaining some of the qualities that represent it as it was,” says Jessie.
In 2009 — the same year, coincidentally, that Future Systems finally closed its doors — the couple bought a Victorian terraced house in Brackenbury Village, west London, a family home where they could raise their children. Together they gutted and reconstructed the property almost from scratch. The house is in a conservation area, so both facades had to be kept intact and they were not allowed to raise the height of the building.
The renovation work uncovered many issues, not the least of which was that the rear facade of the house was separating from the rest of the property: “We took it down brick by brick, kept all the bricks in the back garden in piles, and then rebuilt it using those bricks,” says Jessie.
The influence of Future Systems and Sybarite are visible in the renovation, with the design duo making almost everything bespoke. Architecturally, though, the couple respected the Victorian heritage of the building. “We retained the original staircase which became the Victorian spine running through the property.” They sandblasted and oiled the staircase so it would appear stripped back, complementing the pared-back look of Calacatta Carrara marble in the bathrooms and birch plywood in the bedrooms.
Modern sash windows replaced the ailing originals, and fireplaces were kept but the flues were lined with double-skinned stainless steel — designed and made by the couple themselves, naturally. “That whole idea of the house breathing is the way the Victorians would have had it,” says Jessie of the fireplace update.
With a muted colour scheme as a foundation, the couple then added accents of colour. A bright yellow kitchen breathes sunshine into the space, with units imported from Sybarite’s suppliers in Italy. Clutter is kept at bay thanks to magnetic shelves that can move around on the kitchen’s backboard.
Statement furniture such as the Tufty-Time sofa (final picture, below) and the “shuttlecock” dining table (main picture, top), made of glass-reinforced plastic also stand out against the neutral walls. “The table looks like it’s floating, like it’s defying gravity.”
Unlike Sybarite’s projects that focus on retail and hospitality, the aim here was to create a family home. At the top of the house, with a view over the gardens, the couple designed what Jessie calls their “grown-up oasis” — a master bedroom inspired by the interior of a yacht. “It really was a question of fitting everything in like a jigsaw puzzle.” They successfully utilised every inch of space, managing to squeeze a super-king-size bed into the eaves, plus a huge en suite bathroom and enough storage for all their clothes.
On the lower ground floor they installed plenty of storage for the children’s toys and bifold doors between the family room and garden to open up the space. But adults need their toys too: the couple created an underground wine cellar with capacity for 2,000 bottles that is accessed from the kitchen via a hatch in the floor — with hooks designed by them. “I can lift it in the middle of a party with heels on,” says Jessie. She’s had the practice after all. “We’ve had so many dinner parties down there.”
But what will they miss the most when they move out? “For us, the master bedroom is pretty special.”
The Aldensley Road property is on sale for £1.8mn through Savills
Photography: Savills
