On A Mission

In a former life, Mark and Robert’s home was a mission hall. These days, its light, lofty spaces praise modern design and witty ideas.

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FASHION MAVENS MARK AND ROBERT are used to turning convention on its head. They transformed their previous home by building upwards in a top-floor apartment, giving them soaring views over London. In their new home, they took the opposite approach, digging down to create a new floor. Yet, in a feat of architectural alchemy, the result is not dissimilar: a flowing space flooded with natural light. ‘We wanted a basement extension that defied expectations — and we got it,’ says Mark.

The couple were searching for a property challenge, but also wanted somewhere that captured their imaginations. ‘This place has a quirky history,’ says Robert. The building had previously been a Victorian mission house, a ragged school for waifs and strays and a Salvation Army hall. ‘That was all part of its appeal.’

Going through library archives, Mark discovered that, until the 1890s, two Georgian houses had stood on the spot. ‘Then, all records of those houses disappeared — presumably because of a fire — and only recommenced decades later with a mission hall.’ By the Eighties, developers had chopped the space up into flats. Once Mark and Robert viewed it, the building had been converted back to a single home, ‘but of the featureless, white box variety — very Noughties,’ says Robert. Yet beneath its bland, boxy rooms lay the bones of an intriguing building and, more interestingly, a cellar.