{"id":618374,"date":"2026-06-03T06:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/618374\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:01:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:01:31","slug":"hidden-in-a-london-courtyard-this-modernist-house-is-japanese-inspired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/618374\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden in a London courtyard, this modernist house is Japanese-inspired"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hidden at the end of an unmade lane in Kentish Town, Torriano Cottages was designed and built in 1967 by architect and artist Philip Pank as a home for his family. The Grade II-listed house takes cues from Japanese domestic architecture\u00a0and the courtyard houses of Beijing, with its rooms arranged around a series of enclosed gardens.<\/p>\n

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Photography: courtesy of Hemingway+K<\/p>\n

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Photography: courtesy of Hemingway+K<\/p>\n

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Photography: courtesy of Hemingway+K<\/p>\n

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Photography: courtesy of Hemingway+K<\/p>\n

The original structure was built from Crowborough brick and a Jarrah timber frame, with exposed beams, built-in furniture and extensive glazing throughout. A sweet chestnut tree now occupies the central courtyard, around which the earliest part of the house was organised. Later additions expanded the plan eastwards with a studio and bedroom suite connected to a further garden.<\/p>\n

Pank studied at the Architectural Association before establishing his own practice in the 1960s. Influenced by both Frank Lloyd Wright<\/a> and Le Corbusier<\/a>, he designed a number of private houses, many around Hampstead<\/a> Heath, though Torriano Cottages remains among his best-known works.<\/p>\n

The house has six bedrooms and extends across 231 square metres internally, with four separate garden spaces woven through the plan. Planning permission has recently been granted for a refurbishment and extension by Coppin Dockray Architects, including an enlarged studio and a swimming pool in the eastern garden.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s listed for \u00a33.25 million<\/a> with Hemingway+K.<\/p>\n

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Photography: courtesy of Hemingway+K<\/p>\n

Read next: Dakota Johnson\u2019s midcentury-modern mansion hits the market<\/a>
\nTour the only Case Study House designed by Richard Neutra<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hidden at the end of an unmade lane in Kentish Town, Torriano Cottages was designed and built in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6510,6225,6485,6486,1120,96,210207,388,210208,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-618374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-architecture","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-kentish-town","tag-london","tag-philip-pank","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}