design et al are delighted to announce that Katharine Pooley Ltd have been shortlisted for Residential £20 Million Plus (Property by Value) Award in The International Design & Architecture Awards 2019.
Its proximity to royalty makes St. James’s House truly unique. One of the most important addresses in London, it overlooks St. James’s Palace, is a stone’s throw to Buckingham Palace, and with direct views of the main entrance to Pall Mall. Katharine Pooley Ltd.’s brief was to transform the magnificent building to an elegant residence and return it back from the dilapidated office building it had become to its original splendour. This was an incredibly detailed and laborious process as so much of the fabric of the building was of national importance. The project has taken 5 years to complete.
Throughout the property large-scale art and photography features. Katharine curated the collection specifically for this project – the Katharine Pooley Ltd. Home Dressing Team specialise in commissioning and sourcing pieces from established and up and coming artists. Favourite pieces include the huge photographic piece in the gallery style entrance hall – an absolute wow large scale photograph of swimming horses – graphically impactful when first entering the property.
The highest quality Italian slab marble was used throughout in the bathrooms, kitchen and flooring – this was selected in block form by Katharine and then painstakingly cut and polished and installed using seamless book matching for an exquisite finish. Specialist hand painted wallpapers have been used throughout – abstract washes of pearlised colour adding interest and a soft iridescent beauty to the walls of the master suite. The joinery throughout – which was designed by the Katharine Pooley Ltd interior architecture team under Katharine’s direction – is of the highest quality and each piece was crafted in English workshops to perfectly fit the space.
It is a landmark Grade II* listed building and Katharine Pooley and her team of designers and interior architects were called on to create an interior befitting the impeccable architecture while staying true to its faultless heritage. The final design has a quintessentially English feel: The use of exquisite marble, bespoke furnishings, hand painted wallpapers and fine joinery have been used to complement the restored existing listed features such as fireplaces, mouldings, staircases and wall panelling and have resulted in an immaculate and ground-breaking finished interior.