The Cosmic House, one of the world’s most important examples of Post-Modern architecture, opened to the public in September 2021. It became the UK’s first Grade I listed Post-Modern interior. Begun in 1978, the conversion of the house was a collaboration between Charles and Maggie Jencks and the architect Terry Farrell, with contributions from Piers Gough, Eduardo Paolozzi, Michael Graves, Celia Scott, Allen Jones and others. Its symbolic architecture, complex iconography and cosmic references are all imbued with Charles’s characteristic learning and wit.

Originally designed as a home for Charles and Maggie Jencks, the house is totally idiosyncratic. The stucco-fronted building houses such interior features as pedimented bookshelves, a sundial window seat, and an upside-down classical dome serving as a jacuzzi. The main Solar Stair is complemented by a semi-circular ‘Moonwell’, which channels natural light over a darker area.

The Cosmic House is in Holland Park, an area long associated with architects and artists. It has a rich legacy of radical houses, including the homes of Sir Frederick Leighton, William Burges, Linley Sambourne and others designed by Arts and Crafts architects Richard Norman Shaw and Phillip Webb.

The house is 5 minutes’ walk from Holland Park tube station.