The Cosmic House

The Cosmic House is one of the key landmarks in the development of Post-Modernist architecture. A hugely influential distillation of the ideas at the heart of Post-Modern thought in culture and science, it is a remarkable testament to the polymathic talents of Maggie and Charles Jencks. Working with architect (Sir) Terry Farrell, their designs played with the formal early Victorian villa architecture of Holland Park and its conventions and motifs and remodelled the interior to create a complex scenography of stories and histories. Densely packed with ideas, symbols and motifs, its architecture embraces an entire cosmos of architectural allusion, history, metaphor and reference. Switching between pop and classical culture, between high art and accessible kitsch, it became a built manifesto for the architecture that emerged in reaction to the slowly solidifying canon of Modernism as it faded in the late mid-century.

In 2018 the house was listed at the highest level of protection, Grade I, and in 2021 the house opened to the public and the new Jencks Foundation is running a cultural programme of exhibitions and seminars, and support research through grants, residencies and publications.