The archetypal Chelsea house is an 18th or 19th-century stuccoed terrace, with an early 21st-century all-white interior — undeniably smart, but maybe a bit samey. Take a short walk from the Kings Road, however, and you will come upon The Gateways. This is a collection of 1930s brick houses in a Mock-Tudor meets Arts and Crafts style, set around central gardens in the manner of a college quad.

The Tudor theme was not the whim of Wills and Kaula, the architects who designed the houses in 1934, but a nod to the location’s history. In the 16th century it was on the route taken by monarchs from the river to Hyde Park. Step through the archway at the entrance to the houses and you start to believe that you are anywhere but busy Chelsea; the architects managed almost too successfully to recreate the atmosphere of an academic institution disinclined to be at the forefront of research.

An interior designer who creates homes and offices for the bankers who live in the stuccoed terraces is the last person that you would expect to have his own home and office there. But Rui Ribeiro, who runs an interiors business, has been happily installed at The Gateways for 15 years.

Once you take up residence it seems hard to move, perhaps because few places offer the combination of scholarly hush, the status endowed by a Grade II listing and the proximity to Kings Road, with its shops and cafés.

But the three-bedroom house, with its wood-panelled walls, provides an excellent shop front for Ribeiro’s services. The decor and furnishings evoke the Arts and Crafts aesthetic without turning the property into a museum. Ribeiro admits that when he and his partner bought the house, they embraced Arts and Crafts to such an extent that they put up William Morris floral wallpaper.

So overpowering was the effect that they subsequently opted for something more pared back. Sofas and chairs from the 1940s stand alongside antiques and contemporary pieces.

The walls are painted in neutral shades that contrive somehow not to be bland or institutional. Ribeiro explains that the absence of cream from the palette is the reason why it looks more like a mini-manor house than a senior commonroom.

He argues that cream appears dull unless used to highlight an architectural feature. It is, he says, “too safe and noncommittal”. This is a compact house, unlike the Chelsea archetype, which has usually been extended in all directions to provide the maximum permissible area.

The Gateways’ scholastic feel could make you feel that you were back at college and were late with an essay. But the cosy atmosphere of Ribeiro’s house could also prompt you to picture yourself spending Christmas by the fireside. There is the opportunity to do so — if you have £2.5 million — as Ribeiro and his partner are selling the house. The couple plan to acquire a smaller place in London and a property in Portugal — Ribeiro is a native.

The furniture and furnishings are also for sale.

Douglas & Gordon, 020-7225 1225

Fast facts

• House prices shot up by 2.9 per cent in Kensington and Chelsea in September, to £779,267, according to the Land Registry — it was the fastest rise in London.

• Hammersmith and Fulham was up 1.8 per cent at £443,597.

• The next biggest rise was recorded in Lewisham — 1.7 per cent higher at £249,380.

• But not all regenerating areas fared so well: prices in Tower Hamlets — the worst performer — are down 2 per cent at £311,068.

• The average across England and Wales was a rise of 0.9 per cent — a rate beaten in areas such as Islington, Lambeth, Richmond, Wandsworth and Westminster.

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