This Dulwich home, a gem of British modernism, is for sale

six pillars, a modernist dulwich home for sale for £3.2 million

(Image credit: The Modern House)

The Grade II*-listed Six Pillars, set within London’s Dulwich Wood neighbourhood, is one of the city’s best-known modernist houses. Designed and built between 1932 and 1934 by architect Valentine Harding in collaboration with Tecton, led by Berthold Lubetkin, the house was restored in 2000 under the direction of the renowned architect John Winter, with a later extension by Smith Brooke Architects. Today, it extends to more than 3,500 sq ft across three storeys, with its original architectural features exceptionally well preserved, continuing to embody the clarity, innovation and restraint of early British modernism. It is now offered for sale through The Modern House at £3.2 million.

Originally commissioned by John Leakey, headmaster of Dulwich College Preparatory School, and his wife, Six Pillars is discreetly set back from a quiet residential road. Its architectural profile is defined by a distinctive minimalist façade, ribbons of clerestory windows and the six cylindrical pillars from which the house takes its name. A long private driveway leads to the principal entrance: a glass doorway set at an angle, offering the first hint of the carefully choreographed spatial experience within.

six pillars, a modernist dulwich home for sale for &pound;3.2 million

Entry is into a striking double-height hall centred on a sculptural staircase. Original chevron parquet flooring runs underfoot, while a tall bay of gridded glazing draws light deep into the space, creating a constantly shifting atmosphere throughout the day.

The home’s living spaces unfold across an angled plan, resulting in a fluid and logical lateral layout. The open-plan kitchen and dining room are fitted with bespoke plywood joinery, stainless-steel worktops and a central island. A door leads from here to a self-contained one-bedroom annexe, formerly the garage, featuring poured concrete flooring and direct access to a private rear courtyard.

Also on the ground floor, the principal living room is a calm space defined by a long bay of steel-framed windows overlooking the gardens. An original art deco fireplace forms its focal point, flanked by built-in bookshelves.

Up the curved staircase, four bedrooms and two bathrooms are arranged off a central corridor. Each bedroom enjoys garden views, with three opening onto a long rear balcony that spans the width of the house. The second floor accommodates a further bedroom wing, conceived as a peaceful retreat with its own shower room and access to a roof terrace. The gardens, recently redesigned by Marc O’Neill, are immersive and biodiverse, featuring deep herbaceous borders, mature shrubs, flowering perennials and sweeping lawns.

Six Pillars, widely regarded as Harding’s best-known work, reflects a specifically British modernism shaped by American precedents of domestic rationalism, technological optimism and spatial clarity – translated here into a more restrained, landscape-sensitive form whose legacy continues to inform British housing design.

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Anna Solomon is Wallpaper’s digital staff writer, working across all of Wallpaper.com’s core pillars. She has a special interest in interiors and curates the weekly spotlight series, The Inside Story. Before joining the team at the start of 2025, she was senior editor at Luxury London Magazine and Luxurylondon.co.uk, where she covered all things lifestyle and interviewed tastemakers such as Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Priya Ahluwalia, Zandra Rhodes, and Ellen von Unwerth.