Country houses for sale

Finest contemporary London house

The Modern House has been instructed to sell a house on Swains Lane in Highgate, a stunning creation designed by award-winning architects Eldridge Smerin who were also responsible for The Lawns which was nominated for the Stirling Prize..

The south and west elevations consist of full-height glazing that is entirely frameless. This provides spectacular leafy views across Highgate’s Victorian cemetery, and reduces the mass of the building, settling it into its landscape. By contrast, the street façade is a curtain wall of honed black granite, steel panels and opaque glass, ensuring the utmost privacy.

The four bedrooms all have en-suite bathrooms. The kitchen on the top floor has a retractable rooflight which, when open, transforms the room into an open-air court. Beside the kitchen is a study area with a bespoke glass desk unit by Santambrogio Milano. There are two terraces, one on the first floor and another on the second floor. A Meridian music system runs throughout, and includes a large pair of speakers in the reception room. There is a home cinema in the basement, a state-of-the-art security system, and a secure garage with parking space for two cars.

The house has replaced a 1970s structure designed by the architect John Winter, and uses the same footprint (in an article about Eldridge Smerin’s scheme in Architecture Today, Mr Winter called it ‘as near to a faultless building as I have seen in a long time’.)

Swains Lane Highgate

Guide price: £4.95m through The Modern House (