Bloomsbury, London
An 18th century building with fine proportions and a good staircase; only the front had been doctored in the 19th century, sits a hundred yards from the British Museum. Within view of the eccentric steeple of nearby Saint George’s Bloomsbury, a glass ceiling was inserted by Robert at the far end of the ground floor of the building so this remarkable Hawksmoor church built in the late 1720s could be easily admired.
A premises which lent itself to showroom and residential use, the project was one of reorganizing the ground floor rooms, creating a capacious residence on the upper floors with opportunities for taking in views of the neighbourhood’s architectural gems, such as St George's Bloomsbury, which Robert felt was Hawksmoor’s finest work.
In considering how to transform the building on Museum Street into both a ground floor showroom and a residence above - Robert and team combined three of four ground floor rooms to create a showroom, removing the lantern, adding a glass ceiling for a view of the famous Hawksmoor church steeple. Upstairs, the main residence comprises a library, bedrooms, a dressing room and a sitting room and roof garden.
The interior is classic Kime - plain walls (with one notable exception) and ceilings, colourful rugs, furniture and decor of varied origins and histories, comfortable seating and simple curtains.
The dining room is lined in deep red eighteenth century Venetian silk, trimmed with gold braid. Needleworks and pictures decorate the wide stairwells. An Arts and Crafts desk in the library balances an oversized English portrait of a hound and a tall Italian mirror at the other end. A small reading room is reached through an archway and the sitting room’s loose slipcovers create a contrast to the large scale furniture. The new bathrooms are endowed with Robert and teams’ signature timeless quality. A Barnsley desk sits comfortably in the dressing room, next door the canopy is lined with bed’s a delicate white textile. A guest room is made useful with a sofa bed and reading lights and here, cheerful colours.
The interior is classic Kime - plain walls (with one notable exception) and ceilings, colourful rugs, furniture and decor of varied origins and histories, comfortable seating and simple curtains.
The dining room is lined in deep red eighteenth century Venetian silk, trimmed with gold braid. Needleworks and pictures decorate the wide stairwells. An Arts and Crafts desk in the library balances an oversized English portrait of a hound and a tall Italian mirror at the other end. A small reading room is reached through an archway and the sitting room’s loose slipcovers create a contrast to the large scale furniture. The new bathrooms are endowed with Robert and teams’ signature timeless quality. A Barnsley desk sits comfortably in the dressing room, next door the canopy is lined with bed’s a delicate white textile. A guest room is made useful with a sofa bed and reading lights and here, cheerful colours.
