Interactive floor plan: Narrow House by Seth Stein

The period façade of this house
The period façade of this house in London’s Notting Hill belies its strikingly contemporary interior
(Image credit: press)
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It is not uncommon within London's dense urban fabric that a traditional façade should hide a strikingly contemporary interior. Such is the case with the Narrow House in Notting Hill, the most recent residential project of West London-based architect Seth Stein.

The house sits on the site of the former house of fellow architect Amanda Levete and her late husband, Jan Kaplický, and while it is a new-build, the original external façade was kept intact to accord with local building regulations. The current owner used it as a temporary exhibition space before rebuilding it and putting on the market; it currently is on sale for £9 million via Aylesford and Pilcher Hershman.

Discreet and seemingly small from the outside, the house is in fact a rather substantial 350 sq m, owing its size to its long - extending to 26 m - and narrow layout. With the long volume cleverly broken down by several terraces arranged around an internal courtyard, the building is filled with light. A striking gold leaf-covered corridor wall further distributes the daylight.

Spread across four levels, Narrow House includes three principal bedroom suites and a guest room, as well as living and dining rooms, kitchen, study, media room and a gym with plunge pool. The material palette features polished concrete flooring and ash wood paneling - the architect's self-confessed passion - in many of the rooms. The structure achieves a very high environmental rating by incorporating photovoltaic glazing and solar panels, rainwater harvesting and high thermal insulation.

With its clever layout out and carefully thought out material selection, we can't see Narrow House hanging around on the market for long.

Discreet and seemingly small from the outside

Discreet and seemingly small from the outside, the house is in fact a rather substantial 350 sq m, owing its size to its long (extending to 26 m) and narrow layout

(Image credit: press)

The house to maximise the sense of space

Architect Seth Stein has entirely reworked the house to maximise the sense of space

(Image credit: press)

Several terraces arranged around an internal courtyard

With the long volume cleverly broken down by several terraces arranged around an internal courtyard, the building is filled with light

(Image credit: press)

The study room

Spread across four levels, Narrow House includes three principal bedroom suites and a guest room, as well as living and dining rooms, a kitchen, study, media room and a gym with plunge pool

(Image credit: press)

The structure achieves a very high environmental rating

The structure achieves a very high environmental rating by incorporating photovoltaic glazing and solar panels, rainwater harvesting and high thermal insulation

(Image credit: press)

The plunge pool in the basement

The plunge pool in the basement

(Image credit: press)

One of the strikingly modern bathrooms

One of the strikingly modern bathrooms

(Image credit: press)

The material palette features ash wood paneling

The material palette features ash wood paneling - the architect’s self-confessed passion - in many of the rooms, as well as the cabinets and kitchen

(Image credit: press)

An upstairs bedroom leads onto and decked terrace

An upstairs bedroom leads onto and decked terrace

(Image credit: press)

The car on garage

The garage

(Image credit: press)
Ellie Stathaki

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).

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