It’s difficult to imagine that on the plot of land where the spectacular Summerdown Manor now stands, there was once a modest 1970s bungalow. Razed to the ground a few decades later, it was replaced by a dazzling family residence, a testament to the vision of its Italian owners. Toni Mascolo, the hairdresser and multi-millionaire businessman who created the Toni & Guy empire with his brother Gaetano, bought the land in the Surrey Hills in 1997.
His wife Pauline set about designing their dream home, which has evolved over the years to become a gathering place for friends and family. Enter through the double front doors and the stage is set with a cavernous hallway, complete with a sweeping marble twin staircase leading to ten bedrooms. On the ground floor are two conservatories, two family rooms, a drawing room, a dining room, a snooker room and a music room, decorated in a distinctive Italianate style with columns and arches, friezes and gilt-framed mirrors, ornate furniture and shiny marble floors, mostly imported from Italy.
Across this sparkling surface tip-tap three dogs – Roger the rescue chihuahua, pomeranian Baba and Mr Mooch – who bark excitedly as they welcome hello! to their home. Hot on their heels are their owners, Lilia and Pierre Mascolo, who, along with the rest of the family, are frequent visitors to the house, where Pauline, 78, still lives. At Home With She met Toni in 1963 as a teenager when she worked as an assistant in his first salon in Clapham.
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