With the soothing burble of water from a fountain set in a wall-mounted slab of black stone and an outdoor swimming pool shimmering with deep blue tiles against the bright sun, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the garden of a chichi LA home.
However, this decadent outside space, framed with sculptural hedges and landscaped lawns, is actually in the urban heart of Fulham, west London.
It’s just one part of a series of otherworldly spaces that make up the 3,300sq ft family home of interior designer and vintage furniture expert Mary Hall and her two daughters.
Over the past two decades, it has undergone a transformation from straightforward semi-detached London townhouse into a striking, ultra-contemporary four-storey home – which means it’s not only been used simply as a family retreat, but also for legendary pool parties, an art gallery and a backdrop for edgy fashion shoots.
Unsurprisingly, it’s a look that, after the initial undisclosed purchase price, has come with a £1m price tag.
‘I have such vivid memories of my mother’s transformation of the house which, when she bought it 20 years ago, was just a very traditional semi-detached west London home,’ Mary’s youngest daughter, Grace D’Arcy Craig, 28, tells Metro.co.uk.
She recalls how her mother immediately started drawing up plans to transform the house, even asking for input from her, and her older sister, Emily.
‘Even though we were just children, she always asked for our thoughts’ says Grace. ‘Naturally, we immediately asked for a swimming pool — and were lucky enough to get one. Your average turquoise rectangle wasn’t going to suit the radically modern home she wanted to create for us, so she had inky blue-black tiles imported from Italy, with a custom-made black electric pool cover to go over it.’
London-bred Mary studied interior design at the acclaimed Inchbald School in central London, as well as art in Rome, Florence and Venice, and she launched interiors and vintage furniture business interiorloftlondon.com during the pandemic.
The renovation of the Fulham semi was her chance to create a personal design legacy. A passionate advocate of animal rights, she also wanted to ensure it was a home practical enough to keep several rescue dogs at a time.
‘I made an offer on the same day I viewed it,’ says Mary, who has a special interest in sourcing and restoring Italian classic furniture.
‘It presented the exact opportunity I was looking for. Although, of course, I then immediately booked in the bulldozers to create the layoutI wanted, adding another 1,000sq ft-plus of internal space to the existing footprint, and spending several years securing the various building permits required from the local council.’
Now with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, the home, a short walk from both Parsons Green and Fulham Broadway Tube stations, retains its pristine traditional Victorian façade, with limestone detailing and bold black period-style front door. However, the interiors and the rear have been completely remodelled.
A basement was dug out and huge, open-plan, high-ceilinged living spaces created, with lashings of resin and poured concrete for the floors and plenty of smart glass with minimal framing, dissolving any sense of boundary between inside and out. It’s that rare achievement: a luxurious, ultra-modern home, without a trace of austerity.
‘I wanted a house that had absolutely everything, but with a clean, contemporary look,’ Mary says. This meant no ugly radiators spoiling clean lines, so there’s underfloor heating throughout, plus air conditioning, bookmatched marble in the bathrooms and smart home technology.
On the lower ground floor, stretching across about 1,150sq ft, a gleaming kitchen/diner has a bespoke wall of matt-black cabinetry, which conceals a Gaggenau kitchen — with a nifty sink that is hidden away under a streamlined cover. The dining space can seat 20 people, with bifold doors leading to that glamorous garden, complete with two-bedroom self-contained guest suite.
Down on this level, there is also an über-glam cinema room/library, with stormy dark walls and a library of limited-edition fashion bibles on display. Propped on an antique chest that was acquired from the Duchess of Marlborough’s estate, an original, iconic Sex Pistols artwork by Jamie Reid is signed to Mary from the band.
A sculptural white staircase leads up to the minimalist-inspired main reception space, with a 1970s Camaleonda modular sofa (about £10,000 from chaplins.co.uk) and walls hung with contemporary paintings and photography.
Geometric glass balconies and decked terraces stacked up at the rear of the house are also used to display Mary’s carefully curated collection of art, installations and lighting, including a lifesize black Horse Lamp by Moooi (£6,000 from moooi.com/uk), a Salvador Dali ‘melting clock’ (her prize possession) and organic, totemic maple and walnut pieces by US sculptor Chandler McLellan.
‘My friends have always called my mother the Queen of Style,’ says Grace, who co-founded Label Loft London, a platform for independent fashion brands, in 2017.
‘She lives and breathes good design. I am 28 and I still raid her wardrobe! She was kind enough to let us host Label Loft London’s first-ever pop-up event at the house and took a major role in helping us set the scene. A summer soirée we threw here helped us grow as a brand, leading us on to launch Label Loft online. We have now shot three of our campaigns in the house… it’s every photographer’s dream.’
Although Mary also hires out the house for film shoots for about £600 per hour through Scouty.com and has hosted huge charity events here, she says that more than anything it has been a treasured family home, a safe haven away from the madness of the city, where her dogs love to scamper across the pool’s electric cover.
Even so, she has made the decision to put the Fulham house on the market for £3.85m with Fine & Country.
‘I wouldn’t leave if it weren’t for the decision I have made to build my next dream home, a Brutalist villa in Sotogrande, with the help of Spanish firm Ark Architects,’ says Mary, who plans to keep a donkey and a pig as well as the inevitable collection of rescue dogs.
Grace, too, is excited to be building her own dream home, which will have as many eco-features as it’s possible for her to work in, and will house her own art collection.
‘I have of course taken a lot of inspiration from my mother’s house,’ Grace says, ‘but I will make it truly my own.’
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