Love at first site: transforming a period home in St John’s Wood
This late Georgian townhouse in St John’s Wood, north London, boasts period charm, free-flowing living space and a garden to lose yourself in
“As soon as I walked in, I was enamoured,” says award-winning American interior designer Michelle Pabarcius, who moved to London over 30 years ago along with her husband who came from the US for a job in the financial sector. A two-and-a-half-year long search for a home had led her finally to Langford Place in St John’s Wood, a late Georgian house, once owned by the sculptor, John Adams-Acton.
“You could see the early Victorian influence in architectural features like the stained glass,” says Michelle. In the orangery at the front of the house a well-established grapevine forms a canopy over the ceiling. “As soon as I walked into the house, it felt immediately romantic. I loved the building’s beautiful proportions, architectural features and leafy views out of all the windows. When my husband came to see it after me, he was also able to see the potential.”
Reworking Langford Place
Nevertheless, there was work to be done, from basic rewiring and replumbing, to transforming the flow of the space to make it compatible with family life. The original parquet flooring was uncovered and painstakingly recreated, and 160 years’ worth of paint removed in the hallway to reveal the intricate cornicing. “I love the patina of the past and wanted to honour that.”
The result on the ground floor is an expansive, free-flowing living space; with a kitchen, two sitting areas, a dining room and the atmospheric sunroom at the front. It’s not open plan as such; each room can be either self-contained, or open to the others to increase the sense of light and space. “I love contemporary design, but we are living in beautiful history, so I wanted to appreciate it and move it forward to meet our needs.”
In later years, the garden flat was also incorporated into the rest of the house, giving Michelle a studio space, as well as a small wine cellar, a study, utility room and two bedrooms in addition to the five upstairs. Though this part of the house had been modernised, Michelle reintroduced metalwork and other elements from the original design to create a coherent whole.
While architecturally striking – both the large, arched gothic window spilling light into the dining room and the library on the first floor boast striking stained glass – the house is not listed, though several of the trees surrounding it are. A 135 ft long garden contains a small, wooded area with a treehouse at the bottom of it – “Our gardener once commented we have the only woodland in St John’s Wood,” laughs Michelle – creating a sense of seclusion.
Michelle and her husband came to the house with a toddler in tow expecting to stay at most five years. Now their children are adults in their late twenties it’s finally time to say goodbye. “We’ve been in England for over 30 years,” she says. “It’s been our life, and we have loved it, but know it is time to try something different. Now it’s time for someone else to be able to enjoy all the interesting features this house has to offer.”
Langford Place is available for sale with a guide price of £10,950,000
Please contact declan.selbo@knightfrank.com with any enquiries
