House & Garden Magazine (May 2000) "Family Counsel" by Helen Kirwan-Taylor When Sarah Elson, an American art historian and consultant, and her husband, Louis, bought their Kensington home in 1995 they were faced with a challenge. The previous owners, recalls Sarah, had converted the five-floor Victorian house into a "bachelor's paradise" complete with an eight-man Jacuzzi; not ideal for a growing family, but not warranting another complete makeover. The Elsons opted to carry out only essential alterations. Thus the marble and the gold taps remain in the spare bathroom and kitchen, but the rest of the house bears the family's own distinct imprint. The house is, in fact, a family collaboration. The Elsons called upon the expertise of close relatives to help them create an environment that would happily accommodate both their young children and their sizable collection of art and design. Their first call was to Louis's brother Harry, a New York-based architect. "I knew that if anyone could make this house function on both a practical level and an aesthetic level, it would be Harry," Sarah explains. The second call was to Louis's mother, Susie, a great patron of young British designers and an old hand at house conversions. Susie put forward her favourite English building, Jim Brennan, and a lot of valuable advice. Harry, Louis and Sarah took it from there. Harry created a forty-page book of drawings and details, and flew over every six weeks to supervise the building work. His challenge was to modernize the house yet retain its original charm. It was once the home to the Hudson River School artist Jasper Cropsey - a history which convinced Sarah that she was destined to live there. Upon entering the house. Visitors are immediately welcomed into one of Harry Elson's two adjoining galleried dining spaces, which overlook the children's playroom below. An extending dining table and chairs by Senior Charmichael, Orianna Fielding Bank's china cupboard and Bev Houlding's exotic carved and painted screen of bathing women set a playful tone. This is no shrine to rarefied design; it is a collection of well-loved work, much of it by friends. A drawing by Mark Sheinkman, an artist friend from New York, adds a sophisticated edge. On the first floor, Harry reinstated a wall to separate the originally L-shaped sitting room from Sarah's study. "He made the study a room within a room," explains Sarah. "It feels like a maple-lined box slotted into an existing space." Her study is a testament to Harry's detailed draughtmanship; he even stained some of the maple red to match the colour of the Shaker-style boxes Sarah's father John Lee (a talented amateur craftsman) had made for her. A simple low shelf shows off a beautiful plate by glass artist Sara McDonald. The bright and spacious sitting room is an exciting mix of styles and periods, cleverly pulled together by Sarah with the help of carpet designer June Hilton. A huge Sarah Charlesworth photograph hangs over a Jean Royere console. Hilton's carpets provide a dramatic stage for two chairs made to Gerrit Rietveld designs and a Frank Gehry chair from Knoll. Andreas Gursky's photograph, purchased a few years ago, of a row of shoes inside a Prada shop, hangs on big expanse of white wall. In the corner, Sarah's favourite lamp, by Hannah Woodhouse, adds eccentricity to the otherwise formal surroundings. In the family room next door, the mood is vastly different. Sarah's choice of a acid green for the wall colour gives an immediate shock to the senses. "I wanted to add warmth to Harry's cool formalism ­ we experimented with all kinds of stained woods, colours, and fabrics." This room also doubles as a spare room thanks to Fiona Clark's animal-carved foldaway bed. A carpet by Sandy Jones injects both texture and warmth. Prints and drawings by a range of artists, from Rembrandt to members of Sarah's own family, lines the walls. The climb to the main bedroom is enlivened by an installation by English artist Tom Bell. "There was a recent accidental de-installation by my daughter Isabel," says Sarah, as she tightens one of the twenty black resin balls attached to the wall. The main bedroom suite comprises bedroom, bathroom and a dressing room that opens to a small balcony. Previously it had been two bedrooms with walk-in wardrobes and a long, narrow bathroom. To create extra storage space, Harry built a box-like structure in the centre of the dressing room. Again, Sarah's choice of tomato red and yellow for the woodwork, combined with a colorful Sahco Hesslein fabric for the curtains, makes the point that though Harry's design is so sophisticated and exact, it leaves space for Sarah's and Louis's taste. The focal point of the room is a bed by the legendary Japanese-American furniture maker George Nakashima. "It was a wedding present from Louis's grandmother and our very first commission," says Sarah. "When we went to see George to discuss what we wanted, he was in his late eighties. Two years later we got a call from his daughter: the bed was ready but, sadly, he had died." It was Harry's idea to use the aluminum, which doesn't tarnish, on the wall behind the bed. The bedcover by Sarah Denison was commissioned by the Elsons and inspired by the lyrics of Cole Porter's Night and Day. Again, Harry's cool modernist lines were infused with warmth, imparted by the colourful Bruno Triplet curtains and purple carpet. The children's floor contains many of the Elsons' early British commissions, including a cot and dresser unit by Fiona Clark. What is most striking about this house is its individuality and expressiveness. It is the result of many years of collecting and working with artists and designers. "Even the inexperienced can appreciate what they are looking at," says Sarah, who introduces artists' work to private and corporate collectors. "I learnt that from my mother-in-law Susie. She gave me the confidence to approach people and commission work directly from them, and to choose what I like rather than be influenced by a signature."