• Warehouse living +
• Lateral and light +
• 2,900 sq ft +
• Large private roof terrace +

A quiet enclave of converted Victorian warehouses, just west of the ever-expanding delights of Goldborne Road and Portobello's world-famous market, forms one of Ladbroke Grove's best-kept residential secrets.

These former laundry houses on Hewer Street, later repurposed as dairies and cattle sheds, are now a series of houses and apartments with distinctive identities. This particular section of the northern terrace has been expertly shaped within by the retail architect, Mark Roche, who has created a three-bedroom home of incredible volume, lateral living over two principal levels and a recently renewed terrace at roof level.

The house exceeds 2,900 sq ft and is a marvel of double and triple-height spaces. Original trusses are retained and left exposed, providing a natural warmth against careful contemporary additions of stainless steel, micro-cement and Rosso Levanto marble.

As a no-through road off the beaten track, Hewer Street is blissfully undisturbed by passing trade and exists as a tranquil and neighbourly community apart. Parking outside the house is reserved for local residents.

Roche's original design included the long tapered entrance hallway at ground level; an intentional and very effective device in maximising the impact of the triple height atrium beyond. In the original layout, the front of the building was left as open studio and office space. The current owner has cleverly divided this front section to provide two large bedrooms with their own ancillary spaces to be used as dressing rooms or offices.

The master suite is positioned across the hall. It too has its own substantial dressing room set behind sliding timber-framed doors with semi-opaque wire mesh panels. These provide a playful degree of privacy without an interruption of the seven-and-a-half metre view from room to room. Beyond the dressing area is an en-suite shower room clad in mosaic tiles.

The central atrium contains a further workspace and library beneath the sculptural form of the suspended steel staircase that ascends against a cement feature wall to the first floor.

Here, a grated landing bridges the two elements united under a sea of natural light and vaulted ceilings. Pine slats and trusses give a deep material warmth overhead, while light oak floorboards, as used in the bedrooms, are diaphanous underfoot.

On the southern side of the void is a sitting room, a utility and an exquisite bathroom with a sunken jacuzzi and mosaic and Rosso Levanto elements. Above it is a mezzanine, currently used for storage.