housing
Caruso St John Architects, 1987
Orleston Mews, N7 8LL
11 Orleston Mews was designed by Caruso St John Architects in 1987.
Highbury & Islington
Highbury & Islington
This project is a private house and does not have step free access.
Guided tour
10:00–11:00
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Guided tour
11:00–12:00
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Guided tour
12:00–13:00
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Guided tour
14:00–15:00
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Guided tour
15:00–16:00
How to book
Please create a free visitor account to book your festival tickets.
Guided tour
16:00–17:00
How to book
Please create a free visitor account to book your festival tickets.
While studying at the Architectural Association in the early 1980s, Peter St John lived with a fellow student, Marcus Lee, in a converted garage that Lee owned on a then largely derelict mews in Islington. St John had spent a summer working for Ted Cullinan, and had been inspired by a visit to the Cullinan house at 62 Camden Mews. With the ambition to do something similar, he bought the site next to Lee’s garage on his graduation from the AA in 1984. He and his partner Siw Thomas then moved into a temporary home, created in part from two repurposed dairy vans, at the rear of the site. Over the course of the next three years, the young couple collaborated on the construction of a permanent house
while Marcus Lee and his partner built a home of their own on the neighbouring plot.
The initially very basic house that St John, Thomas and a couple of hired bricklayers built over this period extended over two storeys, and was minimally partitioned. The work of Adolf Loos - the subject of a recent exhibition at the Hayward Gallery – suggests itself as an influence on both the split section and the build-
ing’s expression to the street. With little money available, extensive use was made of salvaged materials including reclaimed bricks and floor boards. Concrete beams were cast in situ and incorporated reliefs by Thomas – who had studied sculpture at St Martin’s School of Art – depicting the house’s inhabitants. Thomas was also responsible for the pattern of painted diamonds that carried across the plywood ceiling of the ground-floor kitchen and dining
area – a late intervention that concealed the effects of a leak.