‘Every bit has been handmade by artisans, with materiality being key. It’s why the metalwork has a lyrical quality: it’s Zanon’s interpretation of what William wanted. That’s how Francesco worked with Scarpa too. They had a symbiotic relationship. It’s a very creative role, that of the artisan.’

Charles Gledhill

The result is a house that is uncompromising, authentic and beautiful; rooted in the past, pure and austere, even modest in its way. But also startlingly modern, propelling its residents and visitors into the future.

Daisy Garnett, The World of Interiors April 2025

A gallery-studio for artist Marianna Kennedy at the rear of her and Charles Gledhill’s listed 1727 house in London’s Spitalfields. The house is interesting in being one room deep but four windows wide, with an entrance door at each end of the street front: one leading into the house and the other now leading again through a vaulted passage to a rear courtyard.

A wall of locally reclaimed mediaeval bricks and dressed Portland stone frames a new glazed metal gate leading into the gallery space, a perfect cube, with walls and floor in lime and a roof in two sheets of glass, etched to shield the space from close neighbours. The gallery opens through asymmetric glazed doors on the opposite side to a second cobbled and ivy-walled yard.

The gallery shares the spirit of Marianna’s work, and was commissioned to be of equal quality and intent to the original Huguenot house (though there is a suspicion that so flimsy is it, they would be surprised to find it still standing, and venerated). The metal gate, rear courtyard doors and details internally were fabricated in Venice by the Zanon brothers Paolo and Francesco, now in their 80s, who produced much of celebrated Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa’s output.

Featured in The World of Interiors April 2025

Associate in charge Liam Andrews

Photography Ollie Bingham