The architect who created the MI6 building only designed a tiny handful of houses — and one of them is now up for sale in one of London's most bucolic spots

The architect Terry Farrell has left his mark on Britain like few other architects. Born in Newcastle, he is probably most famous for the MI6 Building in Vauxhall, aka the SIS Building, a landmark in green and beige Lego, but he his also the man who redeveloped Charing Cross Station and several chunks of Covent Garden.

What Farrell — Sir Terence Farrell, to give him his full title — almost never did was design homes. When he did, they were invariably pretty special. Take 125, Park Road, aka the Park Road Apartments: it’s a metallic, high-rise block overlooking Regent’s Park that has been described as ‘the building clad in aluminium dustbin lids’, and is now listed by Historic England. Then there’s the apartment he designed, and lived in himself, within a former Spitfire factory, with model planes hanging from the ceilings. Most of his career has been spent on larger scale urban developments across the world.

So it was a bit of a departure when, in 2003, Farrell — now 87 years old — designed a trio of houses down by the River Thames in Petersham. Located just upstream from Richmond, this is a dreamy part of London that’s all meadows and woodland, bounded by the curve of the river on one side and Richmond Park on the other, it's dotted with landmarks such as London's last remaining polo club, the Jacobean icon that is Ham House, and the very 21^st century icon that is Petersham Nurseries.

One of those three properties, Drum House, is now on the market via Luxury Portfolio for £9 million, and it’s every bit as modern, challenging and playful as you’d expect from the architect who once put giant painted egg cups on the roof of the building he made for breakfast television company TV-AM.

Arranged on a T-shaped plan, the main house has almost 6,200sq ft of space, plus a separate, self-contained summer house, plant room and store room. Glass walls look out onto the lawn so geometrically precise that you can see why the gardeners have been asked to shape several of the trees into cubes — though the spectacular magnolias add natural spiral twists to the order.

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It's a house of huge open space, with a kitchen-breakfast room (including Officine Gullo cooker) that’s nearly 50ft long, and the drawing room forming the T shape, protruding from the house and dissecting the garden into two separate areas.

The outside space is important here. The gardens were designed by John Sallis Chandler, who has won multiple RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medals, and all five bedrooms (three of which have en-suite bathrooms) look out over it in the same direction. It’s not just pretty to look at: there is a herb garden and vegetable patch as well as lawns, trees, and an irresistible swing seat.

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As you’d expect at this end of the market, there is a media room, gym area, wine room and more, as well as a generous parking area.

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And then there’s that location, amid great schools, beautiful countryside, and all within easy reach of central London.

Drum House is for sale at £9 million — see more pictures and details.

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