Eclair's house wins design award

Jenny Eclair’s home has won a major architectural prize.

Stealth House in East Dulwich has won the Manser Medal for the best one-off house in Britain.

It was built by her partner, designer Geof Powell on the site of an ‘ugly Fifties house’.

The new five-bedroomed building, right, where the pair live with their teenage daughter, is distinctively clad in Russian redwood.

Judges said: ‘The design makes much of a tight site, and shows how good architects can turn an unpromising space into a real delight.

‘It provides a lesson to suburban house builders in how to get much more than expected from a standard plot, and shows how a striking contemporary building can be appropriate to its context.

‘It has obviously been a terrific collaboration between a self-builder and an architect, and shows that doing things in a non-conventional way is not only possible, but can produce buildings of quality without high cost.’

This is the fifth year the prize has been awarded.

Published: 18 Oct 2005