![The Tailored House / Liddicoat & Goldhill - Windows, Door, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8dba/e58e/ce87/b300/0067/newsletter/featured_image.jpg?1460506009)
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Architects: Liddicoat & Goldhill
- Area: 185 m²
- Year: 2014
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Photographs:Will Scott
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Manufacturers: AE3 Design & Build, CE Pittaway, Lazenby, Orbital, Sanctuary Bathrooms, Slimline aluminium
![The Tailored House / Liddicoat & Goldhill - Windows, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8c89/e58e/ce87/b300/0063/newsletter/TH2.jpg?1460505691)
Text description provided by the architects. The brief called for a variety of spaces, offering expansive settings for gathering, and inviting inner sanctums for moments of solitude or contemplation.This was all to be set within a house of sufficient stature and repose to address the massive mid-Victorian townhouses on all sides.
![The Tailored House / Liddicoat & Goldhill - Windows, Facade, Courtyard](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8ba3/e58e/cef2/f400/0105/newsletter/TH25.jpg?1460505458)
The clients drew an analogy between their new house and a tailored suit - recognisable, elegant and simple when viewed as a whole, but revealing individuality and material opulence in detail.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8e55/e58e/ce87/b300/0069/medium_jpg/MRHexplodedaxo.jpg?1460506148)
A house previously stood on the site but, was destroyed by bombing in WW2. Since then, the locality has been designated a Conservation Area and neighbouring buildings have acquired Rights to Light.Winning Planning Permission therefore involved delicate and protracted multilateral negotiation.
![The Tailored House / Liddicoat & Goldhill - Chair, Facade, Handrail](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8e1f/e58e/cef2/f400/010c/newsletter/Tailored_House_(20).jpg?1460506100)
A series of models were produced to develop the building’s complex, bevelled form and its stone and render façade. A selection of these studies were recently exhibited by the RIBA at the ‘Architecture Open’ Exhibition and the ‘Guerrilla Tactics’ event; they are now permanently on display at Portland Place.
![The Tailored House / Liddicoat & Goldhill - Sofa, Table, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8eaa/e58e/ce87/b300/006a/newsletter/Tailored_House_(18).jpg?1460506240)
Despite the local sensitivities, the five bedroom house is neither a resurrection of the pre-existing building, nor an aggregation of responses to different legislative requirements. Instead, the project seeks to reconcile a new London house type, subtly differentiated from its forbears. Conceived as a series of layers receding from the street, the house’s façades are variously lifted, punctured or fanned open to allow light to the interior.
![](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8d57/e58e/ce87/b300/0066/newsletter/MRH__PRESENTATION_PLANS-1.jpg?1460505921)
The street façade - in overlayed planes of loadbearing Roman- format brick, render and Carrara Arabescato marble – refers to its classic neighbours’ proportions. The massive treatment of the front part of the house is dissolved along the flank façade, which is cranked outwards to gather light, tracing a faultline in the urban grain. The sheer, brickwork wall gives way to a screen of stone fins that conceal sheer glazing behind.This barrier affords privacy and filtered light to both the occupants and their neighbours.
![The Tailored House / Liddicoat & Goldhill - Countertop, Table, Lighting, Chair, Sink](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8df0/e58e/ce87/b300/0068/newsletter/Tailored_House_(23).jpg?1460506049)
These contrasting planes of striated, abrasive textures and sumptuous, textured stone are interrupted by tall, bronze- framed windows. Fitted with either sheer glazing or solid bronze ventilation panels and backed by internal shutters, they reveal the depth of the construction.
![The Tailored House / Liddicoat & Goldhill - Windows, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/570d/8d94/e58e/cef2/f400/010b/newsletter/TH1.jpg?1460505948)
Construction of the 185sqm, five-bedroom house will commence in January 2013, with completion due early 2014.