Words Holly Nicholas
Photography Lewis Day

In the podcast, Sue recalls a transitory childhood marked by moving homes and schools several times, including an extended period of time living in a caravan while her father built a timber-framed house on a plot of land. Despite early teenage years fraught with difficulty, she was encouraged by a teacher to pursue a career in art, and went on to study Fine Art at Nottingham Polytechnic. It was here that she met her ex-husband Tim Noble; together, the pair would go on to create a series of iconic shadow sculptures from discarded materials, to international acclaim.

A swift transition from being on the dole to “making a lot of money very quickly” enabled Sue and Tim to buy a “derelict, square box” in Shoreditch; their home and studio later become known as Dirty House, one of the area’s defining architectural landmarks.

Seventeen years later, after the breakdown of Sue and Tim’s marriage, Sue discovered a derelict building consisting of two back-to-back Victorian houses in de Beauvoir, Hackney. Sue recalls, “It had chains on it, it said ‘Keep Out,’ – it looked like the haunted house where the Addams family would live.” A call to Hackney council revealed that the house had been previously owned by the ‘Mole Man of Hackney’ (AKA William Lyttle) who is said to have dug a series of subterranean tunnels underneath the house. So concerned were the neighbours – and the council – that the Mole Man was evicted and the lower level of the house was flooded with concrete.

Working with architect David Adjaye (who also designed Dirty House), the house has undergone an extensive renovation, while preserving many “Mole Man marks, the marks of history, if you like.” Bay windows on the ground floor have been recast in concrete, supporting the weight of the bronze window frames above, while a concrete band wraps around an upper level. Inside, a vast basement forms Sue’s studio, while upstairs are a series of living spaces for Sue and her five-year-old son, Spider. (An exclusive video tour of Mole House is available for members on Patreon, priced at £6 per month.)

Reflecting on her idiosyncratic renovation of this singular house, she says, “Previously mine and Tim’s work was all about taking trash that nobody knew what to do with and then welding it together and making abstract sculptures. So it was meant to be.”

Forthcoming episodes of Homing feature the artists David Shrigley and Sam Taylor-Johnson. Subscribe to Homing or become a member of Patreon and as always, happy listening.