Dream Home | Raven Row

Well it turns out my dream home is actually a non-profit contemporary art exhibition in Spitalfields, London. The property, known as Raven Row, was built in 1690 and later transformed into luxury shops in the Rococo style by Huguenot silk merchants.  In 2009 gallery owner Alex Sainsbury hired 6a architects to meticulously renovate and restore the eighteenth century domestic rooms and add two contemporary galleries. The grander rooms pictured above house the gallery's offices—can you even imagine going to work there everyday? Sigh.

The architecture is a celebration of the imperfect.  Every room has a story of its own, a story told through the enduring detail—some of it left, some of it restored, some of it reclaimed, some of it lost.  It's the perfectly imperfect details—like the original pine floors that were cleaned, not stained, and the intricate paneling—that literally take my breath away.  My mind is overflowing with ideas about how I would decorate the space...I'm thinking cool and contemporary with touches of brass.  What would you do?

(Images via 6a Architects)