Architects’ houses

Left e Model room at Sir John Soane’s Museum, photo credit Gareth Gardener

1 Red House is the iconic arts and crafts home of William and Jane Morris

2 Ernö Gold nger’s design for the exterior of Willow Road, Hampstead, London, 1934. © RIBA Collections

3 e Cosmic House in Notting Hill, photo credit Gareth Gardener

Like Lutyens, the renowned neo-classical architect Soane (1753-1837) built his own house at 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields to re ect his own architectural ideals and interests. Since his death in 1837 the house has been kept as it was, displaying his vast collection. Each of the ve architects featured in this month’s exhibition designed their own homes to re ect their architectural beliefs.

1. Red House, William Morris

Red House in Bexleyheath, southeast London, was designed by Philip Webb and William Morris and built as a home for Morris and his family. A leading gure of the arts and crafts movement, Morris believed in the importance of well-made, beautiful objects that were to be used in everyday life. e house re ects Morris’ visions of beauty: the designs drew inspiration from the architecture of French medieval churches and the wallpaper that lled the house was inspired by the surrounding rose gardens.

2. Willow Road, Ernö Gold nger

In 1939, Ernö Gold nger built 2 Willow Road, Hampstead, demolishing three neighbouring terrace houses and causing controversy among local residents. However, his house embodied two important sources of inspiration for the architect: London’s

Georgian architecture, re ected in the red brick façade, and the in uence of his teacher, French architect Auguste Perret, evident in the visible load-bearing columns which express the building’s structure. A socially committed architect, Gold nger believed in opening up green spaces and in allowing ample natural light into interiors, enabled by the large bands of windows at 2 Willow Road.

3. e Cosmic House, Charles Jencks

4 e interior of Hopkins House, photo Matthew Weinreb

5 e innovative design has been called the most important building of a generation, image public domain

Charles Jencks believed that the role of postmodern architecture was to create a symbolic architecture for the modern era. e Cosmic House, built in 1978 in Notting Hill, home to Charles, his wife Maggie and two children, John and Lily, was designed to re ect the pattern of the earth’s rotation around the sun and the universe-atlarge. On the ground oor, the rooms re ect each of the four seasons, rotating around the Solar Stair, representing the year. e garden, designed by Maggie and in uenced by Chinese and Renaissance gardens, also features the idea of time, with the months marked on a clockwise route, ending with a mirrored door inscribed ‘future’.

4. Hopkins House, Michael and Patty Hopkins

Hopkins House in Hampstead serves not only as a home, but also was the rst o ce for Michael and Patty Hopkins’ architectural studio. Built in the late 1970s, at the height of ‘high tech’ architecture, the Hopkins House was constructed from industrial materials and with a focus on economical, e cient design. e house was intended as a ‘feasibility study’ in how to achieve maximum, exible space. Nestled among a leafy garden, the building is a modular framework of steel columns and glass, allowing the interior space to be subdivided as needed. All structural elements are visible and painted blue to become the house’s main decoration.

5. Stock Orchard Street, Sarah Wigglesworth and Jeremy Till

Sarah Wigglesworth constructed 9/10 Stock Orchard Street in Islington as an urban eco-house. e hybrid space for living, working and gardening has the environment and sustainability at its core.

Built in the early 2000s, the house is naturally insulated using straw bales and sandbags, with a living roof that regulates the interior temperature. e sandbags also provide a natural sound insulation for Wigglesworth’s o ce from the clatter of a busy railway line which sits adjacent to the house.

Architects’ Houses, Celebrating the Homes of Five Leading Figures of British Architecture, is on at Sir John Soane’s Museum from June 7 to September 3.