Living in a Mews House: Ellis Woodman shows us 16 examples of this unique architectural style in the British capital.
Florian Heilmeyer
Ellis Woodman, At Home in London. The Mews House, MACK Books, London 2025
The mews are a British, perhaps even a London specialty. Behind the Georgian or Victorian homes of the city’s more affluent residents lay the hidden infrastructure that supported their way of life: narrow alleys with even narrower dwellings – small and practical, one or two stories high, with walls or gates and small courtyards where carriages and horses were kept, and where goods could be delivered and trash disposed of. Ellis Woodman’s essay on the history of the mews leaves no room for romanticism: it was a small, mostly dirty, and rarely pleasant-smelling world behind the bourgeois facades. A world of ordinary people – servants, delivery people, and craftsmen.
Matthew Blunderfield, 11 Orleston Mews, from At Home in London: The Mews House by Ellis Woodman (MACK, 2025). Courtesy of the artist and MACK
Structural Change and Redevelopment
With the advent of the automobile, the way this world functioned changed, and the courtyards and alleyways were either demolished or converted for permanent residential use. Soon they became particularly popular among artists and bohemians, as this book recounts, because they were looking for affordable yet centrally located apartments or studios, and they were content with simple spaces. As the cost of living in London rose, the popularity of the mews continued to grow, soon attracting even wealthier people, with the result that many a small house was extensively expanded or replaced by new buildings. In such confined spaces, it was often necessary to find unusual, imaginative, or experimental solutions—for example, ways to flexibly accommodate both living and working spaces or to bring more light into the interior.
Matthew Blunderfield, 11 Orleston Mews, from At Home in London: The Mews House by Ellis Woodman (MACK, 2025). Courtesy of the artist and MACK
History and the Present
The book At Home in London: The Mews House documents 16 mews houses in London that have been renovated or rebuilt since the 1960s. And how! For the book, photographer Matthew Blunderfield rephotographed each of the featured examples, and Ellis Woodman, director of the Architecture Foundation, wrote concise yet precise texts for each project. His introductory essay on the history of the mews is also surprisingly short at four pages, yet rich in content. In addition, drawings were created for each project.
Matthew Blunderfield, Whatcott’s Yard, from At Home in London: The Mews House by Ellis Woodman (MACK, 2025). Courtesy of the artist and MACK
Impressive Projects
At the same time, the chronologically organized case studies also trace the most recent developments. While the early projects still include many self-built examples, including the private homes of architects such as John Winter and Peter St. John – the book concludes with two impressive projects by Peter Barber and Al-Jawad Pike, in which entire blocks of mews were newly constructed. Al-Jawad Pike’s project consists of a modest 11 townhouses, while Peter Barber’s already comprises an impressive 96 (!) residential units, whose brick architecture along car-free alleys carries the tradition of the mews into the 21st century. A very inspiring read, even if it consists largely of plans and images.
Ellis Woodman
At Home in London. The Mews House
Hardcover, 29 × 28 cm, 132 pages
MACK Books
London 2025
ISBN 978-1-915743-66-4
Matthew Blunderfield, Edgewood Mews, from At Home in London: The Mews House by Ellis Woodman (MACK, 2025). Courtesy of the artist and MACK
Matthew Blunderfield, 5 Wembury Mews, from At Home in London: The Mews House by Ellis Woodman (MACK, 2025). Courtesy of the artist and MACK
