Jewel in The town RACHEL WARD HELENIO BARBETTA CHIARA DAL CANTO

Home to a London jeweller, this townhouse is a treasure trove of luxurious stones, accented with gold, bronze and vintage Murano glass lighting

Located south of the River Thames with views over Clapham Common, this five-storey townhouse stands on a smart Regency terrace. There is nothing about the façade that sets it apart as extraordinary. Step inside, however, and you enter another world, one of unbridled luxury. The interior, decorated with coloured marble, exotic wood and precious Murano glass, is a testament to what an architect can achieve when the finest of finishes are within budget. It is an inspiration, even to those of us who can only hope to emulate elements of the look.

Murray Groves and Adriana Natcheva, founders of Groves Natcheva Architects, created the interior for a British couple, both jewellers, who have three children. The design is daring, spilling out from a central double-height dome encasing a spiral staircase.

The beauty of marble

The staircase is simple and white, a calming pause before you enter the luxurious stone-clad rooms. The house is decorated with 12 different premium marbles – all selected by the architects for their intense colour and veining. ‘Marble is such a familiar material, but when used on a grand scale it is incredibly surprising,’ says Adriana. The creamy white Italian Calacatta Viola that adorns the main bathroom and dramatic dark blue Chilean Lapis Lazuli in the cloakroom are striking examples of how stone can create impact. ‘The effect is one of complete immersion in the material,’ says Adriana. ‘It’s like stepping into a daydream.’ In the garden room an unusual greyish green Verde Fantastico marble clads the walls, punctured by panels of mirror that reflect the light. The edge of the ornamental pond in the garden is clad in a complementary ‘Brazilian Greenland’ marble from Antolini Luigi with a leathered finish (created by lightly scoring the surface) that adds texture and, usefully, grip. In the subterranean swimming pool, the palette switches to granite. Blue-grey in colour, the stone was selected for its swirling vein that brings to mind the appearance of flowing water. ‘The space feels like a cave,’ Adriana says. ‘It is natural lit by a skylight above.’

The warmth of wood

Two types of wood complement the marble: American brown ebony for the floors, and Cuban mahogany, which is used for much of the joinery. The mahogany is cut in three different veneers: straight, curl and swirl. The straight grain (the simplest design) is used in the wine cellar and the kitchen. The most dramatic swirl design features on the panels that line the dining room walls and ceiling, creating a sense of theatre. The more modest curl veneer (taken from where the limb of a tree intersects with the trunk, it has a feather-like pattern) is used upstairs on the bedroom doors.

Overall, the interior of the house recalls the refined decadence of the Art Deco age. ‘It’s hard in the contemporary era to give a space a sense of opulence without making it feel like a pastiche of the past,’ says Adriana. ‘There’s a lot of influence from architects Adolf Loos and Carlo Scarpa, but what we have created is something different – a new design dialect. It’s a style we call aristocratic minimalism.’ ➤