A London Victorian Townhouse Restoration with Exposed Wood By Tuckey Design Studio

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The request can’t have been customary, even for a firm committed to artfully restoring old buildings. Tuckey Design Studio’s client, a Hong Kong businessman who frequently travels to the UK for work, wanted a bespoke alternative to hotel stays. He presented the architects with an early Victorian townhouse in the heart of Knightsbridge, and asked that they transform it into “a minimalist, monastery-like space.”

The client discovered Tuckey from a first-rate source: he admired the firm’s work on the nearby Egg Trading boutique and home, two Remodelista landmarks, and wanted a similar approach, combining preservation and reinvention. Citing the all-timber interior of Kyoto’s 17th century Katsura Imperial Villa as their inspiration, project architects, Ryuta Hirayama and Dan Stilwell, responded by stripping down the structure and spotlighting its wooden lattice structure throughout. Featuring a complex combination of new and gnarled timbers, their work was recently shortlisted for a 2024 Wood Award. “A singular post on the lower ground floor acts as the house’s trunk, progressively stemming out in all directions culminating in a plywood canopy on the top ceiling,” they write. Join us for an exploratory tour.

Photography by Fran Mart, unless noted, courtesy of Tuckey Design Studio.

the owner took an online tour of the building during covid lockdown in late \20 17 — Above: The owner took an online tour of the building during Covid lockdown in late 2020 and despite its water damaged, dark interior purchased it from afar.

Tuckey Design Studio’s work included meticulously restoring the façade, which had been “smothered and obscured in a flat white render” (scroll to the end for a Before shot). It now has double-glazed wooden sash windows in place of PVC. Photograph by Dirk Lindner.

an arched metal canopy over the entry extends the lines of the original window 18 — Above: An arched metal canopy over the entry extends the lines of the original window over the front door, which opens into the living area. Suspended white wall panels section off the entry and provide a spot for shoe storage. The floor is reclaimed wood.

&#8\2\20;the interior was in a tired state with severe water damage, minima 19 — Above: “The interior was in a tired state with severe water damage, minimal natural light, and lots of internal partition walls,” reports Tuckey Design Studio. “The house was taken back to its bare bones; the tactile character of the rich timber floor joists below and roof trusses above encouraged the architects to revel in their imperfections rather than concealing them.”

Stilwell and Hirayama offset the wood with white walls and enlisted ship builders to create a complex curving stair with a dramatic plywood enclosure stained midnight blue (see more of it below).

a newly exposed original chimney breast finished in limewash serves as a focal 20 — Above: A newly exposed original chimney breast finished in limewash serves as a focal point in the room. Each of the three floors has a similar fireplace in the same location. The client is an collector of art and objects and requested niches and ledges throughout for display.

Explains Hirayama: “In place of extending the footprint, we maximized the psychological space through gap shadow walls, mirrors, and allowing the height of the building to be visible throughout.”