The Cosmic House is reopening soon (Photo by Sue Barr/Jencks Foundation)
There’s no shortage of incredible architecture in London.
From the brutalist Barbican Centre to St Paul’s Cathedral and the Shard, we’ve got so many fantastic buildings, and there are some pretty impressive homes across the capital too.
Usually, we don’t get to peek behind the doors of people’s houses, but one of the ‘most extraordinary’ in the city is inviting the public in this April.
Known as The Cosmic House, the private Grade I listed house, turned museum, is only open during certain times of the year, and it gets booked up quickly.
The house has been hailed as one of the ‘most extraordinary’ in London (Picture: Sue Barr)
What is The Cosmic House?
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Located in West London, on a residential street, The Cosmic House was the home of the late architect, Charles Jencks and writer Maggie Jencks.
It was built between 1978 and 1983 in collaboration with Sir Terry Farrell, and is described as ‘one of the key landmarks in the development of post-modernist architecture’.
From the outside, it might seem like a (somewhat) standard Kensington home; however, the inside is anything but.
The Cosmic Oval at the entrance sets up the major and minor themes that visitors will find throughout the house.(Picture: Sue Barr)
Each element of the building is said to be ‘related to the human body and then to the larger cosmos’, according to the house’s website, making it a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, which is a German word meaning a ‘total work of art’, or an ‘immersive, synthesised artistic creation’.
The Cosmic House website adds: ‘It is an architectural essay about our relationship to proportion, building, culture and the universe.’
Inside the house, you’ll find a fireplace designed by Michael Graves in the Winter Room, a jacuzzi designed by Piers Gough, as well as works by Rem Koolhaas, Eduardo Paolozzi and Allen Jones.
It’s intended to provoke discussion about culture, cosmology, science and design.
The Four Square Room was Charles and Maggie’s bedroom (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Four Square Room was Charles and Maggie’s bedroom (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Architectural Library with the slide-scraper in the foreground (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Architectural Library with the slide-scraper in the foreground (Picture:…
The new Exhibition Room with the evolution of scientific representations of the sun in the ceiling lights, looking out to the Time Garden (Picture: Sue Barr)
The new Exhibition Room with the evolution of scientific representations of the…
The Winter Room has a fireplace designed by Michael Graves (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Winter Room has a fireplace designed by Michael Graves (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Spring Room with fireplace designed by Michael Graves, crowned with female representations of the 3 months of spring by Penelope Jencks (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Spring Room with fireplace designed by Michael Graves, crowned with female…
The Solar Stair (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Solar Stair (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Architectural Library (Picture: Sue Barr)
The Architectural Library (Picture: Sue Barr)
Inside the stair case in the library (Picture: Sue Barr)
Inside the stair case in the library (Picture: Sue Barr)
How to visit The Cosmic House
The house will be open to the public from April 22 until December.
Opening hours run from 12:30 pm until 16:30 pm.
Tickets to visit cost £16 with a donation, £13 without a donation and £5 for students and can be purchased at thecosmichouse.org/visit.
Guests are asked to arrive a few minutes before their visiting time, and can wait in the exterior amphitheatre steps in front of the entrance.
A few restrictions for visiting are in place – guests must be over the age of 12, no one is allowed to wear high heels due to delicate flooring, and there’s a steep spiral staircase, so some may struggle with this.
On social media, those who have visited the house have praised it, with @lesserknownlondonn branding it ‘one of London’s most extraordinary historic houses,’ in a post on Instagram.
Similarly, a user known as @the_monkeypuzzletree said: ‘One of my favourite ever visits to London was to see this house.’
While @kuce_sl said it was ‘so beautiful’, @why_visit thought it was a ‘true hidden gem’, and @thelma_elisa added it was ‘such an interesting place’.
Others branded it ‘amazing’, ‘groovy’, and ‘magical’.
Have you been to The Cosmic House?
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