[imagesource: Architectural Digest]
Rita Ora is a 21st-century London social butterfly through and through.
The UK singer has been seen hopping from Paris to Los Angeles to New Zealand in a matter of days on her Instagram, and when she is in London, she gets so caught up with people pulling her in for chats on the street that she hardly gets home before dark.
Her high-profile romance with director Taika Waititi also keeps her busy.
Rita may have friends in high places (Damien Hirst, for one) but she likes to keep herself solidly tethered to the ground.
With her vintage-inspired Victorian-era sanctuary in North London’s Primrose Hill neighbourhood, she can do that pretty easily, all things considered:
Architectural Digest stepped inside her home:
Built in 1877, it was once home to the illustrator Arthur Rackham, whose work includes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, and more.
It is Grade II listed, meaning that although Ora renovated it a bit after purchasing the home in 2021, she was not allowed—nor did she want—to make any major changes.
Rita stuck to renovating and restoring the floors and roof, redoing the bathrooms, pipes, and electricity, and upgrading the kitchen.
But kept the original wooden partitions intact:
Her home is also full of furniture and vintage finds from London’s famous Portobello Road Market:
“I love to be cost-efficient when necessary,” she says. Her sister and manager, Elena Ora, is responsible for arranging the furniture collection in the home, and interior designer Joanna Plant was brought in to add “little bits and bobs” to tie everything together.
She says visitors are always shocked when they get a look inside, half expecting her to have an infinity pool instead of a gorgeous weeping willow tree:
“My exterior self is super flamboyant, colorful, and I’m really proud of the decisions I make. Internally, my interior self is the opposite. I wanted my inner self reflected in my home.”
Rita says the balcony is the “most magical thing to wake up to in the morning,” but spends a lot of her time in her closet and glam room just off her bedroom:
The London gal couldn’t be more proud of her home.
Rita says its rich history, vintage decor, and a garden full of its own personality make the space “super grounding”.
[source:architecturaldigest]
