It was the perfect design match. Marta de la Rica, the prolific Spanish-born interior designer, was commissioned by a Spanish family moving to London to transform a Victorian-era mansion. They meshed as designer and client not only because they spoke the same language, but also because they shared the same culture. It helped, too, that de la Rica and the clients had a history, for the designer had transformed the young family’s home in Bilbao, Spain, years earlier. This collaboration, however, would require different skills.

As de la Rica, emphasizes, “This was our first commission in London,” but that is not to understate the degree to which this “first” was an unqualified success. Much to her credit, she proves here that she possesses an uncanny ability to embrace English motifs while combining those of her native land. And that is exactly what these clients had hoped she would accomplish—and did—for their new, but old, 1879 home in London’s Battersea area.

The project came with its challenges, not the least of which were the decidedly English locale and the mutual desire to bring a sense of Spain and the Mediterranean into the home. Also, the house occupies an irregular triangular plot, and de la Rica had to work with a complex four-story dwelling that includes an attic in which the children’s rooms are situated, as well as a basement that now remains ingeniously bright by day via a large lightwell.

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INTERIOR DESIGN BY MARTA DE LA RICA

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASPER FY

WRITTEN BY FRED VOON

This story appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of MILIEU.