Dermot Bannon’s Incredible Homes
Episode 4: London
In Episode 4 of “Dermot Bannon’s Incredible Homes”, Dermot hops across the Irish Sea to have the proverbial nosey around some amazing houses. Dermot Bannon has been to London many times. As a student in Hull studying architecture, he would make his way down to the capital and wander around the streets, taking in the architectural landscape. Now, he gets to go inside!
The first house Dermot visits, is probably one of the most unusual properties he has ever, and will ever visit. Walmer Yard sits on a leafy street in London’s Holland Park, bookended by a restored 19th-century kiln – a reminder of the area’s history of clay pits – and prosaic glass and steel offices where the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous was filmed.
Developed by Crispin Kelly, Walmer Yard is the first residential scheme in Britain by architectural designer and teacher, Peter Salter. Commissioned by developer Crispin, and ten years in the making, it cost £22 million.
Each of the houses sits around an intimate timber lined courtyard, which is perceived as an interior room and raised from the street, above a basement parking level.
After the leafy area of Holland Park, Dermot whizzes into the hustle and bustle of Mayfair, to visit one of the most expensive homes on the market in London today.
Culross House, is the only newly built townhouse-mansion currently for sale in London’s Mayfair. It consists of the transformation of the site of the Coach House of the Earls of Essex, into a new 8,051 sq. Ft (747.99 sqn.) five-bedroom ambassadorial house, complete with cinema/club room, swimming pool, spa complex and private rear garden.
From Mayfair then on to Kilburn, Dermot attempts to find the hidden home/workspace of Architect Duncan McCleod. Situated on Kilburn Lane, this house is carved from a West London Victoria terraced house. It is a former Victorian flat over shop. With many beautiful features in this London home, Dermot ends up having the most fun on the staircase! This is no ordinary staircase, it’s covered in astro-turf and slides across the hallway on runners to provide a concealed motorbike storage space.
An hour outside London Town, Dermot makes his way on a boat to Henley on Thames. Dick and Judith Fletcher are the owners of the beautiful and inspiring “Pheasants”. Dick and Judith used to run a children’s software business, ‘New Media’ which they sold for a ‘substantial’ amount in 2003. After feeling disappointed by local architects’ designs for a new home, they organised a design competition through RIBA in 2004, which attracted 67 entries from around the world. Finally with the help of their friends and three daughters they chose Sarah Griffiths and Amin Taha.
The build took place between 2009 and 2016 after a drawn out legal planning battle that took them all the way to the High court to get planning permission.
After its completion ‘Pheasants’ won the RIBA Regional Award 2018 and was nominated for RIBA 2018 Home of the Year.
For the final part of this programme, Dermot heads to Cornwall, where many Londoners have their summer homes. He stays in a house that oozes contemporary minimalist design, The Hide. Designed by Jess Clark, the minimalist aesthetic of The Hide doesn’t compromise on comfort, including intricate design details such as silver wood shingle walls and peephole windows that create a dappled light effect, like sunlight through trees into the modern living space. Vast suspended windows overhang brimming green borders to lend a garden room feel.
The reason for being in Cornwall is to visit Trenoweth Vicarage, a grade II-listed structure, formerly a vicarage estate, dating back to 1880. It has been gently restored to create a wonderfully engaging family home by multi RIBA award-winning architect Amin Taha.
Amin was looking for a house for an extended family retreat that was big enough for his parents and four siblings and their families, all to come and spend time together.
When he drove down to see it, it still had its front facade, but you couldn’t see or access the side or the rear and the main house was full of dead rats and pigeons.
After the restoration Trenoweth has large granite walls, open fireplaces and exposed beams which are seamlessly intertwined with sleek modern architecture, including a glass ceiling kitchen extension complete with wood fired pizza oven. The property is made up of four individual parts in a clustered arrangement positioned at the top of the gently sloping site; the Main House, Coach House, Woodman’s Cottage and Gardener’s Cottage.
Dermot Bannon’s Incredible Homes
Series overview
In the new series of “Dermot Bannon’s Incredible Homes”, Ireland’s best-known architect showcases some of the world’s most amazing homes. From sunny Sydney to London city, from stylish Melbourne to the snowy landscape of northern Sweden, Dermot explores how people live around the globe in this four part series.
Sometimes it is the homes themselves and sometimes it is the people behind the homes that are the star of these shows.
A city pad worth £30million in Mayfair in London, a cave inspired house that has a 3 metre python in the rainforest back garden, an isolated log cabin in snowy Sweden and a massive poly-carbonate structure with a swimming pool in the bedroom are some of the more unusual houses that Dermot visits.
Episode 1: Sydney
Episode 2: Melbourne
Episode 3: Sweden
Episode 4: London