Janet Street-Porter and Piers Gough were contemporaries at the Architectural Association in the 1960s. She went on to pioneer youff TV'; he called what he did"B-movie architecture'. At this Clerkenwell house they were reunited as client and architect: the perfect Po-Mo pairing.The result is spiky and tough; deliberately uninviting yet curiously endearing.The brickwork becomes progressively darker towards the pavement (creating a trompe-l'oeil shadow effect) and the lintels are concrete tree trunks, while sloping sills and diamond glazing transmogrify into a trellis grid, which alarmingly shoots away from its corner site. A helm roof clad in aquamarine pantiles encloses a penthouse studio.Inside, raw surfaces and 'as found' elements sidle up to handcrafted finishes.Each room has a different shape and decorative scheme, reflecting the restless camerawork and ticker-tape visuals of her TV shows. 'If you were asked "Who might this building belong to"', said Piers, 'I think you'd guess it was Janet?' Photo 7 of 11 in 10 Wildly Innovative U.K. Homes of the 20th Century That Outshine the Rest

10 Wildly Innovative U.K. Homes of the 20th Century That Outshine the Rest

7 of 11

Janet Street-Porter and Piers Gough were contemporaries at the Architectural Association in the 1960s. She went on to pioneer youth TV; he called what he did "B-movie architecture." At this Clerkenwell house they were reunited as client and architect: the perfect Po-Mo pairing. The result is spiky and tough, and deliberately uninviting yet curiously endearing. The brickwork becomes progressively darker toward the pavement (creating a trompe-l'oeil shadow effect) and the lintels are concrete tree trunks, while sloping sills and diamond glazing transmogrify into a trellis grid, which alarmingly shoots away from its corner site. A helm roof clad in aquamarine pantiles encloses a penthouse studio. Inside, raw surfaces and "as found" elements sidle up to handcrafted finishes. Each room has a different shape and decorative scheme, reflecting the restless camerawork and ticker-tape visuals of her TV shows. "If you were asked, ‘Who might this building belong to,’" said Piers, "I think you’d guess it was Janet."