Lazarides launches new gallery by Roland Cowan

Lazarides is set to open a third gallery in London, with interiors and graphics by Roland Cowan Architects.

Steve Lazarides, eponymous founder of the gallery chain, appointed architectural and interior design consultancy Roland Cowan without a pitch in January. Last year, the group created the interiors of Lazarides’ home.

Lazarides at The Rathbone will occupy a five-storey Grade II-listed building in Rathbone Place, WC2. The main gallery space will be on the ground floor, with a private viewing gallery on the first.

‘I briefed Roland Cowan to be really rough and ready, and as cheap as possible,’ says Lazarides. ‘I wanted to play to the original 19th-century features and keep the crooked doors, rather than making a white-walled polished concrete gallery-by-numbers.’

Roland Cowan responded by stripping back veneer floors and dry lining from the walls to reveal old boards and bricks.

‘We waved a sander at the floorboards, but we have kept that really rough look on the floor and bricks, which will retain their charcoaly dust film,’ says Roland Cowan architectural assistant Jonathan Chattaway.

White walls and vintage flock wallpaper by Ohio-based company Hannah’s Treasures will mix with original wooden panelling.

‘Since we cannot make holes in the panelling, we are installing ceiling mounts for some of the artworks,’ says Chattaway, explaining that paintings will hang a little away from the walls.

An original mosaic in the entrance hall that reads ‘The Rathbone’ has inspired the gallery’s branding. ‘We have copied the typeface, so the gallery’s name will contain both Lazarides’ logotype and the mosaic-inspired typeface,’ says Chattaway.

Lazarides at The Rathbone opens on 15 May.