The Town House

The Town House (or Townhouse Studios) was a recording and mastering studio complex in West London, built by Richard Branson and Ian Cooper in late 1978 as part of the Virgin Studios Group (along with The Manor).
The Goldhawk building included 3 recording studios (studio 1, studio 2 and studio 4, the latter was built later) and 2 cutting rooms (equipped with Neumann VMS 80 Lathes, SX74 cutter heads and SAL74 Drive Amplifiers). In 1985 Townhouse added a VMS 82 for Direct Metal Mastering (DMM).

Lacquer cuts can be identified by "TOWNHOUSE" or "TOWN HOUSE" stamped or occasionally etched into the runouts.
DMM masterings can be identified by "TOWNHOUSE DMM" or "TOWNHOUSE D.M.M." etched into runouts and occasionally just "TOWNHOUSE" etched combined with a stamped "D“ (plated or pressed by EMI Records) in the runouts.
Lacquer cuts for PRS Ltd. can be identified by ▽E TH (between February 1979 and ~1983), and by ▽420 H (between ~1983 and mid 1988).
Lacquer cuts for Lyntone Recording Ltd. can be identified by a trailing ITH.

History:
July 1984: Opening of the recording studio Townhouse 3, located in Battersea.
1992: Acquired by EMI, after Branson sold Virgin Records.
2002: Taken over by the Sanctuary Group.
2006: Put up for sale and re-launched by Al Stone and Sanctuary
June 2007: Bought by Universal after a Sanctuary buy-out.
April 2008: Final closure.

Known mastering and cutting engineers:
Ian Cooper (1978 - 1993)
Tony Cousins (1978 - 1993)
Gordon Vicary (1981 - 1998)
Kevin Metcalfe (1983 - 1998)
Barry Woodward (1985 - 2004)
Jack Adams (2) (1992 - 1993)
Geoff Pesche aka Peachy (1992 - 2006)
Frank Arkwright (1993 - 2004)
Tim Debney (2002 - 2006)
Nick Watson (2002 - 2006)
Doug Shearer (2004 - 2008)
Tim Burrell
Bunt Stafford-Clark

Name variations as found on this profile:
• The Town House
• Sanctuary Town House (2002 to 2008)
• The Town House Studios
• The Townhouse
• The Townhouse Cutting
• The TownHouse Digital Mastering Studios
• The Townhouse Studios
• The Townhouse, London
• The Townhouse, Shepherds Bush, London
• Townhouse Studios, Shepherd's Bush
• Town House
• Town House, London
• Town House Studio
• Townhouse
• Townhouse, London
• Townhouse London
• Townhouse II
• Townhouse Studio
• Townhouse Studios
• Townhouse Studios, Terminal 24
• Townhouse Cutting Room

The company can also be identified by a stylized THT etched into the runouts of a record, with the top of each T meeting the other above the H between them. In this case the record was cut by Tony Cousins ("Town House Tony").

Not to be confused with the Japanese Town House Studio in Kyoto.