We were commissioned to transform a large run-down flat occupying the ground floor and basement of a grand house in Hampstead into a spectacular contemporary residence. The property was originally built for a gentleman artist in the 1870s who installed various features, including the gothic panelling and stained glass in the Living Room, taken from a French church. Since its conversion into a boarding house soon after the First World War, and then flats in the 1960s, hardly any remedial work had been undertaken and the place was in a perilous state. Our brief was to create a series of living and entertaining spaces at ground floor level, retaining the best of the existing features, and a series of private bedroom quarters with a more contemporary feel at basement level.