Set in a conservation area beside the Thames, Tapestry Court in Mortlake is a building with history. Built on the site of royal astronomer John Dee’s library, beside the Mortlake Tapestry Works, it spent the 19th century as a pub – the Queen’s Head Hotel. Today, it is listed as a Building of Townscape Merit and contains three apartments. The second floor had been an office, but the owner asked Russian For Fish to transform it into an open-plan two-bedroom penthouse, extending onto the roof to create a sunroom. This required an extensive refurbishment in a minimal palette to allow the panoramic river views to dominate. The floors and joinery were made using fumed dark oak, complemented by pale marble in the kitchen and bathroom. These materials form a decorative link to the polished plaster in the new sun room, which was fitted with sliding glass doors to allow access to the rooftop garden – and its dramatic vista – all year round.