Ted Cullinan’s famous Camden Mews house comes to market

Remembering our home

Emma Cullinan

If local planners had had their way, 62 Camden Mews would have been an imitation of the Victorian houses behind the stables. When Camden Mews was built, it was a mixture of light industrial factories, empty lots, a few brick houses and car repair shops. After long discussions with planners, Cullinan was allowed to go ahead with his groundbreaking design, and later the planning department asked anyone building a new house in the stables to take inspiration from Cullinan’s house as it can be seen in the street today.

Despite influences from Californian case study houses as well as Frank Lloyd Wright and Gerrit Rietveld, the house is very Ted-like and features his signature style with a massive ground floor and a floating, glass upper floor.

Instead of facing the stable and having a small courtyard in front, the house runs along the side of the property, soaking up plenty of sun and nature through its south-facing glass wall and upper terrace. This relationship with nature and the elements makes it an early example of sustainable design.

Unlike many people who claim they built their own house, Cullinan literally built this house himself. While working for National Theatre designer Denys Lasdun, Cullinan spent his weekends between 1962 and 1964 building 62 Camden Mews. He remembers a neighbor coming by every weekend and saying, “You’ll never finish that.” He managed it. When our family moved in in 1964, it was habitable.

It is a house of its time and has changed little, especially since it was listed Grade II* in 2007. It is looking for someone to love it as the icon that it is.

Kate Cullinan

When we moved into 62 Camden Mews, there was no front door and it was still a building site. My sister, brother and I learned to build from a young age – first mixing mortar in our sandpit down in the yard, then pulling on our wellies to squash down the concrete as it was poured into the foundations.

The house was like a playground, and Dad had a gift for turning everything into a game. He put up a swing set in the unfinished garage and built lots of circuits, tent sites, stages, and a tree house to play in. He had to think of lots of ways to keep three young children occupied while he and his friends, students, and family did the heavy lifting.

He built the house at weekends while working at Lasduns during the week to earn the money for the building materials, so it was a house he paid for up front. (He also got free offcuts from Lasdun buildings, including bricks from the Royal College of Physicians.)