My London: Deyan Sudjic

Home is…

A tall, thin house in Camden Town since 1999 with my wife, Sarah Miller, and from time to time our daughter, Olivia.

Where would you most like to be buried?

The crypt of Nicholas Hawksmoor’s wonderful baroque church (left) in Spitalfields. It’s where the great British modernist James Stirling’s ashes are buried, originally kept secret, supposedly because the priest at the time thought that he would be overwhelmed by architects looking for a last resting place if the news got out.

Best meal you’ve had?

The River Café squid (right) and lamb is the best blow-out family meal. I did, however, propose marriage over an American Hot at Pizza Express in the Strand. She said yes.

Favourite club?

I stopped going to The Groucho when they started asking me to leave a credit card behind the bar. That’s not a club any more. The Garrick, the Reform and the Athenaeum all have wonderful buildings, but the Garrick’s lingering men-only policy is a problem. The best thing about all those old-school clubs is that they frown on any kind of work taking place under their roofs. Even a pen and notebook is frowned upon.

If you could buy any building in London, which would it be?

John Soane’s house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields and not change a thing. He’s one of Britain’s greatest architects of the 18th and 19th centuries and transformed the interior of two terraced houses in a wonderfully inventive way and filled it with his remarkable collection that stretches from Hogarth to an ancient sarcophagus.

Biggest extravagance?

A reluctance to spend less than £25 on a bottle of wine, and always red — I like Hegarty No1 (right).

What do you collect?

Chairs. I’ve lost count how many I have, though highlights include an original Ron Arad Rover chair (below), and an armchair that Comme Des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo designed and gave me.

Who is your hero?

Professionally, no museum director has done a better job than Nicholas Serota. He made the Tate (above) what it is today — a popular and critical success. Through the years of planning, fundraising and construction, he kept the spark of a creative big idea alive.

Which shop do you rely on?

Paul Smith at Westbourne House in Notting Hill, for made-to-measure suits.

Last play you saw?

Macbeth at the National Theatre. Rory Kinnear was notably under-powered in the title role, but Anne-Marie Duff was convincingly chilling.

What would you do if you were Mayor for the day?

Ban any tourist group that involves a guide with a flag or umbrella.

Who is the most iconic Londoner?

I love the idea that this was the city in which Karl Marx sat down day after day in the British Museum to write his assault on capitalism, that it was a city started by Roman immigrants in the days of ancient Rome, in which Christopher Wren’s marvellous dome of St Paul’s still survives, and which is still defined by Harry Beck’s Tube map.

Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier runs to 7 Oct at the Design Museum