RH has made its London debut with unmistakable ambition, unveiling a flagship that is as much architectural statement as it is retail destination. The American luxury home furnishings house long known as Restoration Hardware has selected 7 Burlington Gardens, a landmark address in Mayfair, as the setting for its first UK outpost.
This opening follows RH’s 2023 introduction to the British market at Aynho Park, a centuries old country estate in Oxfordshire, and expands a growing European footprint that already includes Paris, Milan, Brussels, Madrid, Munich, and Düsseldorf. Yet London called for a more monumental gesture.
The chosen site, Uxbridge House, is a rare surviving Palladian townhouse originally designed in 1721 by Italian architect Giacomo Leoni for the 1st Earl of Darnley. Meticulously restored and reconfigured in collaboration with Foster + Partners, the complex now unites four interconnected buildings into a single 5,000 square metre experience spanning five levels combining retail, dining, design, and cultural programming. RH describes it as home to the most extensive curated luxury interiors collection in the world.
Guests enter through a Roman Doric portico into the Architecture & Design Library, where European white oak herringbone floors and gallery-style plinths display rare architectural volumes. Among them sits a 1521 Italian edition of Vitruvius’ De Architectura, a foundational text whose theories of proportion later interpreted through Leonardo da Vinci continue to inform RH’s design philosophy today.
A sculptural glass and steel lift, finished in champagne-toned metalwork by Foster + Partners, connects all five floors. Nearby, the Wine Bar and Tea Salon is lined in Bronze Amani marble, while the former banking hall has been transformed into The Dining Room, a 136-seat restaurant defined by eight-metre Roman columns finished in champagne lacquer, coffered ceilings hand-gilded in gold leaf, and cascades of Venetian glass chandeliers suspended beneath mirrored skylights. The menu focuses on elevated British classics, from rib roast to fish and chips, prepared on custom Molteni rotisseries.
On the Piano Nobile, original 18th-century ceilings by master plasterer Joseph Rose remain intact, now framing curated RH Interiors installations. Above, the second floor takes a more theatrical turn. Designer and hotelier Anouska Hempel has created two distinct environments: The Perch at RH London, featuring a smoked-glass aviary canopy, blackened églomisé surfaces, and an Absoluto Nero marble bar that opens onto a terrace garden of clipped laurel trees, marble water channels, and sculptural birdcage forms referencing Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.
Adjacent sits the World of RH Lounge, anchored by a 360-degree holographic installation encased in bronze and fluted mirror surfaces.
At the top, the third floor becomes a sheltered indoor garden beneath a vast faceted skylight of triangular glass panels and exposed European oak beams. Here, RH Outdoor is presented among fountains, pleached plane trees, open hearths, and a landscape that blurs the line between interior and exterior living.
