Stirling Moss’ Futuristic Bathroom

It seems we’re fascinated by the cult of celebrity these days. But how do you define celebrity? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a celebrity is ‘a famous person, especially in entertainment or sport’. Celebrities were originally known for being good in a particular field and achieving a celebrated status. Nowadays, it seems to be anyone who has hit the headlines for even just a few minutes of media glory.

 

The great racing driver

One celebrated sportsman you can’t accuse of only a few minutes of fame is racing driver Sir Stirling Moss. Moss is now 84 and obviously hasn’t raced for some years. But in his heyday, Moss won many Formula 1 and other class races. He is considered by many to be ‘the greatest driver never to win the World Championship”. Moss was knighted for his services to motor racing in 2000. He has continued to take an interest in, appear in, and commentate on motorsport to this day.

 

Moss lives in a house in Kensington and has done for fifty-plus years. The plot of land was a bomb site still undeveloped when he bought it in 1961 for £5,000. He built a modern 5 storey home on the site and installed many gadgets – it has ‘robotised appliances’, including a remote controlled bath tub. At the touch of a button, the steam bath fills with water at exact temperatures.

 

Some of the gadgets in the house look a little basic nowadays, even a little Wallace and Gromit-esque, but they were real innovations at the time. Even his lift has the ‘wow’ factor: it was built by the Williams F1 team – not many homes can boast that. His home is now thought to be worth somewhere in excess of £10 million.

 

A recent renovation

Moss’s most recent home update is his silver and white bathroom on the third floor. The bathroom flows into his dressing room, and both rooms surround a central spiral staircase.

Almost in homage to the cars he drove in his early racing days , the Mercedes Benz ‘Silver Arrows’, this room looks very futuristic. The bathroom makes the most of metallic mosaic tiles, giving the room a feeling of space …and space-age.

 

 

Recreating the design of celebrity

Often celebrities are blessed with large incomes for their many years of hard work, training and taking risks. As a result, their homes and budgets are usually more generous than other mere mortals.

 

However, even us normal folk can achieve superb, statement bathrooms with the easily available designs these days. They might not have the computerised gadgets that Stirling Moss considered must-haves, but they function well and look beautiful.