The late Richard Paxton studied architecture at Kingston University, and went on to work in the offices of Ahrends, Burton & Koralek, where he was involved in the design of the Cummins Diesel Factory in Scotland and the Sainsbury’s supermarket in Canterbury. In 1985 he established his own practice with his future wife, Heidi Locher, who had formerly worked for Terence Conran.

Paxton Locher have been responsible for the design of the Soho Theatre and the Jerwood Space in Southwark, but perhaps their most significant contribution to architecture has been the imaginative domestic projects they have undertaken both for themselves and for distinguished clients (including Douglas Adams and Griff Rhys Jones). Notable among these is a house in Clerkenwell (pictured) and others in Primrose Hill and Hampstead.

They acquired and developed the building on Corsica Street in the 1990s, converting it into seven flats. The penthouse apartment they designed for themselves, with its ingenious swimming pool, is one of the most iconic of the period. The flat being sold here, on the ground floor, was originally an office for the Paxton Locher practice. Heidi Locher converted it into an apartment for her own use in recent years.

In an article in Grand Designs, Kevin McCloud wrote of Paxton’s work “…above all else, what impresses me is how Richard understood the idea of enclosure. For him walls didn’t exist to support the roof but to provide shelter and comfort. He knew how to articulate the shapes in a building to make you feel relaxed, nurtured and protected. He understood that great Corbusian truth, that the business of architecture is to create relationships: with a building, with people and with the world at large.”