A Spanish Family's Victorian Home in Battersea Gets a Mediterranean Rewrite

Interior designer Marta de la Rica has transformed an 1879 Victorian house in Battersea, London, into a British-Mediterranean family home for a Spanish family of four who had lived in the city for nearly 10 years.

The 5,382-square-foot, four-story building sits steps from Battersea Park in a quiet residential neighborhood. De la Rica, who describes herself as "a New Yorker by birth, French by adoption, and Spanish at heart," had designed the family's previous home in Bilbao, so she arrived knowing exactly what they wanted.

"The family wanted an elegant and peaceful home that, above all, would be warm and cozy," says de la Rica. "For us, that meant creating spaces with comfort, character, and personality."

How Do You Reconcile a Victorian Shell With a Spanish Lifestyle?

The clients had originally searched in a different part of London, but changed plans the moment they saw this house. The structure was in very good condition; only the floor plan needed reconfiguration. "Above all, we wanted to preserve the spacious rooms, the ceiling heights, the bay windows, and the staircase," explains de la Rica.

The cultural brief shaped the whole project. "We wanted the house to feel personal to them while also remaining true to its London identity and the Victorian architecture," she says. "So the project became a dialogue between English interior design and a more relaxed, Mediterranean lifestyle."

The ground floor holds a study, living room, kitchen, family room, and a sunroom that doubles as the dining room. The parents' bedroom occupies the second floor. The entire top floor, with its sloped ceilings under a mansard roof typical of London Victorians, became a separate children's realm of bedrooms and colorful playrooms.

The sunroom demanded the most invasive work. "To build the basement, it had to be demolished and rebuilt," says de la Rica. "It was very important to us to preserve the extraordinary presence of this space and its connection to the rest of the house."

What Does the Design Actually Change for the Family?

It merges the rooms where daily life happens. The living room, dining room, and kitchen form a single open space. "This part of the house allows for a very uncomplicated way of living," says de la Rica. "It's very beautiful but not contrived or overly formal. It exudes coziness and spontaneity, and for me, that's ultimately what makes a family home."

The living spaces also flow outdoors. Terraces front the family room and sunroom, and a garden designed by Matthew Wilson adds a pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a spacious dining area for gatherings.

Inside, elegant craftsmanship, custom details, warm colors, and high-quality materials carry through every room. "I particularly like that the rooms all have their own character, yet there is a clear, unifying design that carries throughout the house," says the designer. Her stated goal was to stress the house's scale without coldness: "Even in the larger rooms, there's a coziness. It was very important to us to achieve this balance."

Her favorite spaces remain the living and dining rooms — the zones where, she says, the home truly comes to life and the design meets the family's routine directly. The project shows how a protected historic shell can absorb a foreign lifestyle without erasing either identity.