Belgravia Mews House

A collaboration with Eliská Design to transform a nondescript Georgian mews house in central London into a luxurious home perfect for parties and entertaining. Located in a private mews in the Belgravia conservation area, the house had good bones but lacked personality. It also had no outdoor space, one of the client’s key requirements.

When Bua was approached, the house was inverted, with a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor and the kitchen above. While it had three bedrooms, it lacked living and entertainment space. The first step was to flip the scheme, positioning the dining area and kitchen on the ground floor, and adding a roof terrace for outdoor entertaining. Internally, the property has been fully refurbished. The new scheme features a bespoke kitchen, a dark-lacquered cocktail bar and an elegant home office. All the joinery throughout the house is bespoke, tailor-made to suit the client's needs.

When our client purchased the house, all the living accommodation was squeezed into the first floor, with bedrooms above and below. These cramped living quarters didn't suit our client's needs, so we moved the kitchen and dining to the ground floor, creating a welcoming entrance hall. This freed up the first floor for a generous reception room, separate study and the all-important cocktail bar! By creating very different spaces for entertaining across three levels, the house feels much larger than the floor plan suggests.

Bua successfully navigated the City of Westminster’s planning process and negotiated a License for Alteration with the Grosvenor Estate to secure permission for the large roof terrace and façade alterations. The façade has been remodelled and redecorated. This included the removal of three sash windows and the installation of French doors with 40cm deep cast-iron Juliet balconies on the middle floor. A new front door replaces the existing overtly Victorian door which was not in keeping with the Georgian property. The black fittings are all dark bronze to tie in with the new balconies. The façade colours, navy on the ground floor and pale blue above, were chosen from Grosvenor Estate’s approved colour scheme.

Planning dictated that the existing garage could not be changed into habitable space. Instead, the space has been transformed into a multifunctional area that doubles as a private Pilates studio and a covered outdoor entertaining area for bad weather.  

The front door opens onto a new dining area with the kitchen on the left, a top lit stair with solid oak treads and banister straight ahead, and a door serving the garage to the right. The entire ground floor has beautifully done, oversized parquet flooring which follows the curves of the wall and gives the space a modern look. Traditional detailing, such as the cornicing, has been reintroduced to reinstate period features. Period panelling adorns the walls and replica antique mirrors help to make the space feel bigger. The dining area and new kitchen can be separated by closing the panelled doors to hide preparation while entertaining. The kitchen, which was previously a bathroom, includes compact joinery and pocket doors to hide toasters and coffee machines. The Obsidian Blue cabinets have nickel fittings and mesh doors that tie in with the house’s exterior colour scheme. The kitchen surfaces are topped with lemurian blue granite with dramatic flecks of colour.

The kitchen detailing is echoed in the study on the first floor. Here, the cabinets are painted a pale taupe. Display shelving is interspersed with mesh doors to hide TV units, with printers and office paraphernalia hidden in cupboards below. The parquet flooring matches the floor below. The study links to the main reception room but also sits comfortably as its own room. Across the landing, is a custom-built cocktail bar that uses antique mirror and dark green joinery designed to fit the client’s glass and barware. A WC decorated with Moooi extinct animal wallpaper is tucked away next to the bar. More custom joinery, this time housing handtowels, sits either side of the Kast concrete sink. The main reception room features an existing fireplace that has been carefully integrated into the new scheme.

While the bedrooms on the second floor have been left untouched, the bathrooms have been elevated. The master ensuite now features beautiful Dover white marble and classic fittings to feel modern but appropriate to the age of the house. The guest bathroom features dramatic primavera green marble and a bespoke vanity unit.

Topping things off is the new roof terrace, which provides much needed garden space and dramatic views of Westminster. A new, sweeping staircase serves the terrace, accessed via a large, automated, sliding rooflight. The railings are black painted metal to tie in with the fittings on the façade and have been kept simple to stay in keeping with the property. Strategic planting offers privacy from neighbours.

Contractor: Fine Projects ltd

Interior Design: Eliská Design

Structural Engineer: Aspire Consulting Engineers

Photographer: French + Tire