Eaton Square is one of those London addresses that everyone knows; each white stuccoed façade is embedded in history. Politician Neville Chamberlain lived at number 37 in the 1920s and 1930s, before becoming prime minister; James Bond is its most famous fictional denizen, and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was a more recent celebrity resident. The Georgian doorways on this elegant garden square have welcomed the rich, the famous, and the feared.
Before its development starting in the 1820s, what is now Eaton Square was part of a no-man’s-land frequented by robbers, highwaymen, and gentlemen fighting duels. Today it’s hard to imagine such a raucous scene. On a subdued morning in May, the square feels COVID-era quiet; few cars, few people, only an elderly lady, exiting a grand porch and stepping into a quietly purring Rolls-Royce. And on an upper-floor apartment lounging on an aubergine-colored velvet sofa are Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci of Italian design firm Dimorestudio.
Around them are Chinese porcelains, Murano lighting, sumptuous gold cushions, huge vases of flowers, opulent curtains. It’s like we’ve stepped from James Bond’s pavements to the salons of Federico Fellini via the Ming dynasty and midcentury Italy. Nothing about the apartment feels British apart from the cornicing and the Fromental wallpaper. “The space was very ‘real estate,’ ” says Moran. “It was a plain box with very traditional architectural elements,” and since, the duo avers, they “never design specifically to a country,” they set to work, sourcing and making everything with their handpicked team of craftspeople in Italy.