ABSTRACT
Picker House at Kingston upon Thames was designed for Stanley Picker, a successful businessman and art collector, and was inspired by Picker's desire to create an architecturally distinctive setting in which to display his collection of modern and contemporary painting and sculpture. Wood favoured the plot at Kingston, which was steeply sloping and excited him with the potential that it offered to design a house of individuality and interest. The idea of incorporating stained glass panels into the house was subsequently discussed, but a decision was deferred along with a number of items of additional expenditure. Some months after Wood's original suggestion, when the house was nearing completion, Picker took up the idea of introducing stained glass into the design and asked Wood to approach two artists, Peter Tysoe and George Muller, on his behalf. The sophisticated electrical installation for the house included track, recessed and spot lighting in anodised aluminium or self-finished metal.
