House Extension in Hamilton Place, London

House Extension in Hamilton Terrace, St John’s Wood

This extension to the rear of a spacious house on the prestigious Hamilton Place in St John’s Wood, in north London, was undertaken by Joe Mills Architects. I adore the simplicity of the modernist design allowing the daylight to flood in, making it bright and airy which enhances the minimalist approach of the layout of space, as well as endevouring to incoroporate the rich foliage of the mature garden behind. 

The windows of the spacious first floor living evoke the neoclassical rigour and Italian rationalist style of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in Rome’s EUR district, built in the 1930s. It is a style of architecture which also features in several of Giorgio de Chirico‘s metaphysical paintings of the era. In fact among de Chirico’s most used motifs were buildings with a regular series of arched arcades. Of these he declared, “The Roman arcade is fate … its voice speaks in riddles which are filled with a peculiarly Roman poetry”.

In keeping with the sparsely decorated space, the artwork fits in wonderfully, from the strong contrasts of Martine Franck’s black and white photographs to the abstract paiting of the facing wall.

The downstairs kitchen was designed by bespoke furniture maker Jerome Walden.