Back in the 1960s, it wasn’t just Carnaby Street and the King’s Road that were swinging. For folk/rock artist Donovan, the ‘poor man’s Bob Dylan’, the coolest part of town was South Kensington. ‘Come loon soon down Cromwell Road, man, you got to spread your wings’ he sang in his catchy 1966 number ‘Sunny South Kensington, the flip side to his biggest hit Mellow Yellow.
Half a century on is South Ken swinging again, capturing the 21st century zeitgeist? Pay a visit to the area’s newest boutique establishment in Harrington Gardens, just around the corner from Gloucester Road tube, and you had better believe it.
The Other House embraces a new hospitality concept for the capital, a combination of an apartment-style stay with hotel-like services. It is ‘your home for as long as you’re in town’. Its 237 guest rooms are called Club Flats, and they can be taken for a day, a week, or even a year. But with its library, its dining room and its bar, The Other House also possesses the attributes and the feel of a funky, luxurious hotel.
What is guaranteed is that this apartment block-cum-hotel-cum Residents’ Club, spread over 11 elegant Georgian townhouses, will dazzle you with some of the most imaginative, innovative and dramatic interior design work you could possibly envisage.
The library for example, a gorgeous, rich room, with velvet and leather dark red and blue armchairs and sofas accompanied by colourful cushions with animal motifs, dark wood bookshelves with an eclectic display of quality novels. And on the walls there is a good proportion of The Other House’s quirky 100-strong collection of ‘upcycled’ or ‘disruptor’ art - discarded 18th century oil paintings (staid portraitures or uninspiring landscapes) destructively yet creatively daubed with bright colors to give them a new lease of life.
Then there’s the Owl and Monkey cocktail bar, cosy, inviting, with jade marble floors, trademark gold leaf chandeliers on the ceiling and the most beautiful wallpaper at the back depicting a jungle-type scene, monkeys scrambling for berries watched over by wise owls, all enveloped in leaves and plants in vivid colors of green and blue.
The natural world – especially the animal kingdom – is dear to the heart and a central part of the philosophy of The Other House’s designer, Egyptian-born Marie Soliman, who is the founder and creative director of Bergman Design House. Marie, dubbed the ‘chameleon of chaos’ by GQ magazine, explains her approach: ‘You have to be joyful, you have to be whimsical, you have to push some boundaries. I think when people step into a place like The Other House they are not just looking for the usual fine things – they want to be surprised.’
But the overall vision for The Other House came from its dynamic founder and CEO Naomi Heaton, who will open a second ‘house’ in Covent Garden next year and has a third planned for Belgravia. Naomi believed London was ready for something different. ‘There seemed to be this artificial divide between hotels, which are transient, and apartments that can be rented for up to 90 days. But in fact, the people visiting them just have different requirements at a particular point in time – but essentially they want the same thing, a quality service and experience,’ she says.
Technology is to the fore here – a special app enables you to access all services from the moment you arrive. We checked in to our Club Flat, No 17 O’Brien on the fifth floor. The flats are intriguingly named after renowned artists, scientists and celebrities who walked the streets of South Ken, but we were initially stumped by the name O’Brien – only to be reminded that Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien was much better known as Dusty Springfield.
Ours was a Club Classic, a studio style flat with a nicely designed open plan sitting room and integrated kitchen/diner, separated by a decorative screen from a comfortable king-sized bed and ensuite shower room.
We didn’t have time to try out The Other Space, the house’s wellbeing retreat – vitality pool, state-of-the art gym, yoga studio and meditation hub – but did linger in the beautifully light, Mediterranean-style Hogsmire courtyard adjoining it.
On the morning of our departure we ate in the main dining venue, The Other Kitchen, a buzzing all-day street café serving casual breakfasts and lunches. The granola and homemade fruit compote, toast and a mixed berry smoothie were enough for us, although the ‘Humongous’ sandwich (Cumberland sausage, eggs, mushrooms, bacon, cheese and tomato in toasted ciabatta) is on the menu for those with healthly appetites.
The Other House may be cool and quirky but it is very comfortable too. We paused for one last contact with the exotica – sitting in the flamboyant peacock chair/throne, thronged with mirrors. Then we made our way home, to our animals and our own herd of peacocks.
For more information visit theotherhouse.com
