Saturday, April 20, 2024
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OPULENCE & SPLENDOUR

A Starck 4×4

Eccentric Ferves Ranger off-roader once owned by Philippe Starck heads to auction   The season for viewing and buying the finest automobiles is once again upon us and the undoubted standout highlight of the forthcoming RM...

Having it all

Shelter Island residence complete with its own nightclub, squash court and swimming pool fails to sell in two years despite price cut of £2.6 million to £15.7 million   Most people wouldn’t build a holiday home...

Five of the Best: Summer clothing and accessories for gents

Matthew Steeples chooses five of his favourite finds for gentlemen this summer   With August upon us, the man about town can relax and wind down. Whether you are staying in the city or heading off...

Life’s a beach

Converted windmill requiring renovation on the beach at Aldeburgh in Suffolk for sale for £1.2 million   Many dream of living by the sea but for someone in search of such, there couldn’t be anything more...

Beaten by Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg offers £2 million above the £15 million asking price to see off three other bidders and buys George Eliot’s house by the River Thames   Proof if it were required that the ultra-prime London property...

Slash and die

Asking price of Californian estate cut by £37.8 million; condition of owner being allowed to live there until he dies removed   When De Guigné Court in Hillsborough, California was last marketed in 2013, it came...

Video of the Week: Spectre trailer

Trailer of forthcoming Bond film ‘Spectre’ released   Everybody loves James Bond and excitement continues to build around the release of Spectre on 26th October in the UK and on the 6th November in the USA...

Powering a windmill

Psychedelic Austin Powers-style windmill conversion – next to a pylon – for sale in Lancashire   There are conversions and there are poorly executed conversions and then there’s a poorly executed conversion next to a pylon:...

Upping the arts

International auction house Christie’s report staggering half-year sales of £2.9 billion   Yesterday in London, the auction house Christie’s announced record half-year sales of £2.9 billion ($4.5 billion or €4.2 billion), up some 8% on the...

The house formerly known as Prince

Despite a Málaga villa built by the musician Prince remaining on the market a year after it was put up for sale, bizarrely its asking price has been increased by £1 million   Aside from penning...

A dazzling manor

One of Norfolk’s most historic houses for sale for a staggering £3.95 million just a year after it was last sold for £2.75 million   Henry VII stayed there and left barefoot to visit the nearby...

A favourite with thieves

£4,750 sculpture stolen from Belgravia’s The Osborne Studio Gallery   Belgravia is generally considered to be genteel and civilised but last week, Geoffrey Hughes experienced something quite to the contrary when his gallery, The Osborne Studio...

Blackadder’s lair

Rowan Atkinson puts his Oxfordshire home on the market for £2.9 million after selling his McClaren F1 – bought for £540,000 in 1997 – for a staggering £8 million   Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson made a...

A Spitfire soars

Spitfire smashes £1.5 million pre-sale estimate and soars to sell for £3.1 million for charity in London   Yesterday, a world record was set when an original, airworthy Spitfire sold for more than double its £1.5...

Anything but Australian

One-off Maserati Boomerang heads to auction for just under £3 million   UPDATE: 6th September 2015: Sold for £2,419,000 ($3,668,0000 or €3,289,500)   Concept cars are rarely sold by the firms that produce them and thus when one...

A luxury estate

Unusual Aston Martin estate car owned by Richemont director Alain Dominique Perrin heads to auction   “Practical” is not typically a word that could be used to describe an Aston Martin but with the forthcoming auction...

Beware of the bitches; bitches beware

Matthew Steeples reviews Steven Berkoff’s first novel: ‘Sod the bitches!’ whilst the author shares his take on it in a video exclusive   We all complain about the bastards and bitches that plague our lives but those...

Reader offer: La Traviata at Winslow Hall

Winslow Hall in Buckinghamshire to host fourth annual opera production between 8th and 19th July 2015   Described as “the finest surviving house built by England’s greatest architect, Sir Christopher Wren”, Winslow Hall in Buckinghamshire is once...

Frederick D. Hill and Daisy Hill Sanders: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

‘The Steeple Times’ asks father and daughter art dealing duo Frederick D. Hill and Daisy Hill Sanders: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”   The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force? Fred – The love...

Bring your own bidet

Most expensive house to be publicly offered for sale in the UK to be stripped of everything including the kitchen sink   When we last featured 2 – 8a Rutland Gate opposite Hyde Park in Knightsbridge...

A disadvantage and a curse

A £1.5 million, 302-acre North Yorkshire farm that is for sale for the first time in 131 years provides evidence of the sorry plight of hill farmers in Britain   Hill farms struggle by and create...

Your lease is up

Unmodernised Knightsbridge flat for sale for the equivalent of a staggering £1,500 per day   Properties on short leases sell to cash buyers who either have the resources to extend the tenure and those who want...

Five of the Best: Highlights of Masterpiece

Spectacular items, art and objects at Masterpiece 2015   Britain’s greatest showcase of art, antiques and unusual objects opens today and runs until Wednesday 1st July in the South Grounds of The Royal Hospital Chelsea. Today,...

Gone With the Mill

Vivien Leigh’s retreat and final resting place for sale for £3.25 million   Actress Vivien Leigh bought Grade II listed Tickerage Mill at Blackboys in East Sussex on divorcing Laurence Olivier in 1961 for £20,000 (the...

Sporting potential

1,900 acre Cumbrian estate on the open market for the first time since 1761   In contrast to the roofless, repossessed Cumbrian house in 1,500 acres featured yesterday, another estate for sale nearby is an entirely...

A paedophile’s palace

Asking price of the Wilmslow home where paedophile Stuart Hall abused at least one of his victims slashed to £995,000   Currently incarcerated after receiving a total of 60 months in jail for the abuse of girls...

A roofless repo

£3 million sought for a repossessed, roofless shell set in 1,530 acres of Cumbrian countryside Repossessions normally come in the form of scruffy semis but at Killington in Cumbria, one has come to the market...

A £17 million fixer-upper

A £17 million Kensington house that is being marketed as one that “may now benefit from a refurbishment” provides a reflection of how ludicrous London’s property market now truly is   It comes to something when...

The art of selling

A £30 million Mayfair apartment for an art lover that is being marketed by way of an extraordinarily detailed 69-page sales brochure   A 5,845 square foot penthouse in Mayfair’s Albermarle Street has been designed and...

The king of rentals

A 39th floor apartment in The Pierre Hotel in New York becomes the city’s priciest rental at a staggering £327,000 per month   Whilst the most expensive apartment currently available to rent in London is a...

Britain’s most expensive hut?

Tiny converted hut in the Lake District placed on the market for the same price as a flat in Kensington, London   Reports of beach huts on England’s south coast selling for over £200,000 ($306,000 or €275,000) are...

A royal smuggler

Rolls-Royce allegedly used to smuggle Wallis Simpson into Balmoral for sale   In 1923, the future King Edward VIII commissioned coachbuilders Barker to refinish the chassis of a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost to create a shooting brake...