Lancaster Gate

This two-bedroom flat was once the master suite of this Grade-II-listed Regency building, but most traces of period grandeur had been eliminated in the 1970s. Russian For Fish’s task was not only to restructure the layout to create two bedrooms of equal size, but also to restore the apartment to its former glory.

This meant replacing sash windows and doors and reinstating cornices and skirting. Of the ornate original window surrounds, only one survived, so the rest had to be recreated to match. Equalising the bedrooms entailed moving the walls that contained the building’s flues – which therefore required the contraction of concrete columns to support them. The two bathrooms were both upgraded (the ensuite is now accessed through a concealed wardrobe door in one bedroom) and tanked to accommodate the building’s fastidious insurance requirements. Finally, the apartment was finished with oiled oak floors and a bold-blue grey palette in the living room – the perfect complement to the seasonal colour changes of the Hyde Park tree canopy outside.