Victorian Building

Who knows what Princess Leia would have thought of seeing her home in Alexander Square completely renovated.
The five-story building in South Kensington, in typical Victorian style, unique in its extraordinary view of the park, should have been Carrie Fisher’s home in London. Due to the premature death of the American actress in December 2016, the home was bought by an English couple with children, a lover of classic Italian taste, who two years ago assigned the important renovation of the mansion to the Milanese architect Isacco Brioschi.
The challenge for the designer was redesigning the spaces and decorating them according to a New Classic taste blended with Italian touches, which gives the living spaces both an image of prestigiousness and an allure of conviviality, keeping within the architectural constraints of the English legislation, which strictly protects buildings of this type.
The starting point for architect Isacco Brioschi was to find ways and solutions to combine English and Italian style in a harmonious and refined frame.
To overcome the architectural limitations, Isacco Brioschi has created a feeling of space illusionism: establishing aesthetic and sensorial connections by using different materials, paired together because they are attracted to each other like magnets.
Perspectives in which the dimensions lose their meaning, tamed to an amusing rhythmic law. The runner that covers the stairs (leading from the entrance to the first floor) is in wool and silk in various shades of grey and is crossed by an asymmetrical line that creates the illusion of contrast between light and shadow, giving the eye an alternative perspective.
The design of the elegant and precious boiserie of the two living rooms on the first floor followed a reinterpretation of the French neoclassical style of the late eighteenth century: two types of monochromatic wall covering characterized by great texture, alternately framed by champagne-colored brass profiles that suggest a sense of luxury and three-dimensionality. The mirrors placed in strategic positions, along with the use of the wallpapers and certain furnishing elements, help create the optical illusion of widening all the spaces.
The same illusion applies to the wall of the master bathroom, wherein the storage compartments disappear behind doors that are made of the same natural stone that covers the entire room. The pure and simple essence of these lines have been skilfully manipulated, both in the structure and in the clever use of the furniture. This helps to visually enlarge the internal spaces and give them an added perspective as if they were painted on a canvas.

Each element of the project has been Made in Italy by Italian artisans, following the design proposed by architect Isacco Brioschi. These include the finest of Italian marbles, the Italian chevron solid wood floor coverings, the luxury brass finishes, the elegant panelling, and all the furniture pieces and lighting fixtures.