Inside the Maida Vale home that’s a tribute to the glory days of disco
London’s Maida Vale, famously home to Abbey Road Studios, has a luxurious new bar and nightclub. There’s no intimidating door staff, but you’re still unlikely to make it inside. That’s because this is the most exclusive hangout going, located two levels below ground in a private home that astounds at every turn.
It’s a property masterminded by Trilbey Gordon, an interior designer who formerly worked as a writer for Vogue and who, with a knowingly deft and playful touch, loves to pull influences from the most glamorous excesses of the fashion world. Talk to Trilbey about this project and she’ll namecheck Halston’s apartment in New York, Yves Saint Laurent’s spectacular homes and Coco Chanel’s decadent Parisian pad.
‘They wanted a showstopper of a house,’ she says of her clients, a newly married couple looking for a home that exceeded expectations.
Walk in and you are instantly dazzled. The entrance is ‘a jewel box’, complete with gold leaf on the ceiling and a bespoke sideboard that brings to mind the opulence of Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss – the owners are prolific art collectors, so artistic influences and gallery-quality pieces abound here.
So expansive is this home (with four above-ground floors and two more subterranean ones) that rooms need to make a serious impact to stand out. That’s why Trilbey has created memorable set pieces like the dining room, with its lacquered walls and ceiling that took six months to complete.
‘I wanted it to look like you were underwater, in a stormy sea,’ she says of the effect, which is emphasised by a bespoke mica chandelier, lacquered in the same hue, and a resin-topped table by the studio Based Upon, which looks like a starry night sky reflected in water when you gaze into it.
Elsewhere, the sparkle is subdued but still very much present (there are delicate brushstrokes of gold in the plaster on the living-room walls and twinkling lighting throughout).
It’s when you head underground, though, that things get a little sexy. Here, Trilbey has orchestrated a giant architectural intervention, transforming what was once a warren of spa-like rooms around a central lightwell into an open-plan party area and adjoining swimming pool with a giant oculus at its centre. Featuring inset lighting, the new window was inspired by the work of artist James Turrell and, in the evening, it creates a magnificent glow that washes across the Patagonia marble-topped bar below.
Nearby is the alpaca- fleece-covered conversation pit that Trilbey admits is ‘a bit James Bond’. ‘Nowadays, everyone is looking at their phones, and I really wanted a place where people would actually be forced to chat,’ she says. ‘I just really hope nobody spills anything on it!’
She may be influenced by the trends of the season’s runways, but for Trilbey, her projects need to have permanence and longevity. ‘I want this home to look as current in 10 years’ time as it does today,’ she explains, noting how the appeal of interiors by her heroes, Halston and Saint Laurent, has endured. Luckily, she adds, ‘opulence and glamour never go out of fashion’. trilbeygordoninteriors.com
