The Steeple Times

Tag: 1950s

  • Pricey Pickhurst

    Pricey Pickhurst

    130 acre Surrey estate with gardens by Arabella Lennox Boyd for sale for £28 million (or £13 million more than it was marketed for in 2013)

     

    A Surrey estate has gone on sale for 87% more than in was offered for four years ago.

     

    Featured in Country Life in 2013 whilst for sale for £15 million ($19.1 million, €17.1 million or درهم70 million) and on the market now for the much higher sum of £28 million ($35.6 million, €31.9 million or درهم130.7 million), Pickhurst at Chiddingfold, near Goldalming centres around a 15,430 square foot Grade II* listed mansion.

     

    Built by the Scottish born architect J. M. Brydon for himself in 1885 in the style of Norman Shaw and most recently refurbished by developers Royalton, the main half-timbered house was originally much larger. Reduced in size in the 1950s, after a fire devastated its service wing, it now includes not only 6 reception rooms and 6 bedroom suites, but also a vast wine cellar, a belvedere tower and a home cinema.

     

    A further 3 bedrooms and a “hot relaxation suite” can be found in an adjoining coach house and in addition to two further 3 bedroom cottages and a Grade II listed gate lodge, there is also a stable block, machinery barn and garage. In total, internal space extends to some 30,000 square foot.

     

    Unusually for a property just 42 miles from central London, Pickhurst comes with 130 acres of land. Divided into formal gardens partly designed by Lady Lennox-Boyd and Chelsea gold medalist Fiona Lawrenson, woodland and pasture, there is also a 1.23 acre lake, a clay tennis court and an outdoor swimming pool. A family shoot on the estate is described as “regularly having 250 bird days”.

     

    Selling agent, Trevor Kearney of Savills, is far from modest in talking about Pickhurst. In marketing material for the property, he gushes:

     

    “This is the very best country estate that I have ever seen. Pickhurst is a best in class offering of unquestionable style and quality”.

     

    Of the renovation works he carried out to the house, in 2013, West Sussex based architect Ian Adam Smith, commented:

     

    “At the outset, the house looked as if it had been more or less chainsawed in half, yet, in spite of the fact that, before the fire, it was almost twice its size, local planning regulations would only allow us to extend the footprint by 40%”.

     

    “And, with no plans and no service wing to work with, we had to more or less create an entire new country house within a Grade II* listed building bearing in mind all the restrictions that that implies. Luckily, I was given a free hand by my very fastidious client, and we were able to build a new entrance, incorporate a modern-kitchen/family-living complex, upgrade the bedrooms and bathrooms, install acres of walnut panelling and replace the existing cherry-wood flooring with oak parquetry”.

     

    “With more than a nod to Lutyens, Webb and, in the gardens, to Gertrude Jekyll, we also reintroduced some interesting original features, such as the belvedere from where you can look out across the roofs of the many and varied Arts-and-Crafts houses that are a distinctive feature of Chiddingfold and the other villages in this wonderful part of Surrey”.

     

    Current pictures of the property removed at request of Claire Basing Lawson of Savills, 23rd August 2017.

  • Reader Offer – ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’ by Verdi at Winslow Hall

    Reader Offer – ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’ by Verdi at Winslow Hall

    Winslow Hall Opera’s ‘Un ballo in maschera’ by Verdi to be performed in Buckinghamshire in July

     

    Between 7th and 16th July, a production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera will be performed in the grounds of Winslow Hall in Buckinghamshire.

     

    The opera in three acts will be conducted by Oliver Gilmour, Winslow Hall Opera’s artistic director for the last three seasons, and directed by Carmen Jakobi. Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy picnics before afternoon performances and supper during an 85-minute interval in the evenings.

     

    Reader Offer – Winslow Hall Opera’s ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’ by Verdi at Winslow Hall, Winslow, Buckinghamshire, MK18 3HL – 7th to 16th July 2017.
    ‘La traviata’ was performed at Winslow Hall in 2015, its set was designed by Sam Steer

     

    Grade I listed Winslow Hall itself is a fascinating house that was once described as “the Rolls-Royce of English domestic architecture”. Supposedly built to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, the building – famed for its curiously tall chimneys – has variously been a school, an office for RAF Bomber Command and an antiques showroom.

     

    Restored as a private house by a former British ambassador to the Netherlands in the 1950s, Winslow Hall was sold to the former restaurateur Christopher Gilmour and his delightful Australian wife, Mardi, in 2010.

     

    Details:

    Tickets are priced between £75 and £95 per person (with a discount of £10 per ticket on bookings made before 15th May). For further information and to book, telephone +44 (0) 754 472 6501 or email [email protected]

     

    Performance dates:

    7th July at 6pm

    9th July at 3pm

    11th July at 6pm

    13th July at 6pm

    15th July at 5pm

    16th July at 3pm


    Dress:

    Black tie is optional.

     

    Address:

    Winslow Hall, Winslow, Buckinghamshire, MK18 3HL. Parking is available in the field opposite. Trains from London Euston to Milton Keynes take 30 minutes.

     

  • Billionaire Battersea

    Billionaire Battersea

    Historic Battersea mansion for sale for the same sum it was marketed for in 2011; it has been mostly empty throughout the intervening period and was renovated by the late billionaire Malcolm Forbes

    Billionaire publisher Malcolm Forbes was a man who liked to live large. He had a huge yacht named The Highlander, threw lavish parties across the globe and counted Gianni Agnelli, Gordon Getty, Calvin Klein, Robert Maxwell, Rupert Murdoch, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump as friends. This “mysterious collector” also owned numerous residences and one of these, Old Battersea House in London, is for sale for the same sum as it was marketed for in 2011.

     

    Often seen with Elizabeth Taylor at his side and described as “living life in the fabulous”, Forbes purchased Old Battersea House in 1971. It had previously been home to and saved from demolition by Battersea Council by the eccentric author and ghost hunter Wilhemina Stirling. She took up a lifetime tenancy on the building in 1931 and used it to house artworks by her sister, Evelyn de Morgan (1855 – 1919).

     

    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    Businessman and publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990) with seven times married actress Dame Elizabeth Taylor DBE (1932 – 2011) at his lavish 70th birthday party at the Palais Mendoub, Tangier, Morocco in 1989
    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom
    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) owned the house prior to Malcolm Forbes
    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    Christopher ‘Kip’ Forbes (born 1951) assisted his father restore Old Battersea House and later oversaw the family selling its art collection in 2003 and 2009

     

    Grade II* listed since 1954 and adapted during Forbes and subsequently his son Kip’s ownership to showcase a vast collection of Victorian art and antiques, Old Battersea House was built on Tudor foundations in 1699 and was at first known as ‘Terrace House’. It originally had gardens extending down to the River Thames and is rumoured to have been designed by Sir Christopher Wren (1632 – 1723).

     

    Featuring “handsome classical proportions throughout” and standing within a 110-foot wide walled garden, the 10,100 square foot house includes 4 reception rooms, 10 double bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. It has off-street parking and a garden store but it is sadly overlooked by the adjoining housing estate that was built in its grounds in the 1930s.

     

    Savills seek £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) for Old Battersea House.

     

    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    The impressive hallway of Old Battersea House
    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    Another entertaining space
    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    Elizabeth Taylor and her then husband Larry Fortensky at Old Battersea House in 1992
    Billionaire Battersea – Old Battersea House, 30 Vicarage Crescent, Battersea, London, SW11 3LD, United Kingdom – Formerly Terrace House – For sale through Savills for £12 million ($15 million, €14 million or درهم54.9 million) – Former home of eccentric author and ghost hunter A. M. D. Wilhemina Stirling (1865 – 1965) and billionaire publisher Malcolm S. Forbes (1919 – 1990)
    Images of the house as it was furnished during the ownership of the Forbes family

  • Narrow in Knightsbridge

    Narrow in Knightsbridge

    Tiny 2.5-foot deep Knightsbridge “corridor house” sells for £810,000 at auction

     

    Yesterday, at an auction in London, a 2.5-foot deep (at its minimum) and 3-foot deep (at its maximum) mews house sold for £810,000 ($1 million, €936,000 or درهم3.7 million) despite being nothing more than a very long corridor.

     

    Extending to 275 square foot in total and 65-foot long, 1B Ennismore Gardens Mews needs “complete refurbishment” but has potential for a first floor extension. The single-storey freehold property, which was owned from the 1950s to 2010 by a lady named Linda Wildoner, is certainly one of the smallest houses in Knightsbridge and could definitely be described as a curiosity.

     

    Narrow in Knightsbridge – 2.5-foot wide house sells for £810,000 –Tiny, 2.5-foot deep “corridor house” 1B Ennismore Gardens Mews, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 1HX sells for £810,000 ($1 million, €936,000 or درهم3.7 million) at Savills auction
    Linda Wildoner (1916 – 2010) outside 1B Ennismore Gardens Mews, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 1HX with Sir Martyn Poliakoff CBE (born 1947)

     

    Miss Wildoner, an Austrian who moved to London after the Second World War to take care of Sir Martin Poliakoff and his family, died in 2010 and yesterday’s sale was carried out at the behest of her executors.

     

    Of this extraordinarily weird property, Chris Coleman-Smith of auctioneers Savills told the Mail Online:

     

    “You see narrow houses, but this is something completely different… It is on a prime, crème de la crème mews on Knightsbridge. It is a superb, picturesque mews. One of the top addresses”.

     

    “It is very basic and will need a complete refurbishment. It is brilliant. It is weird and wonderful and I’ve not come across anything like it. Someone will create something fantastic here. In a cobbled mews in Knightsbridge it is a great opportunity”.

     

    Narrow in Knightsbridge – 2.5-foot wide house sells for £810,000 –Tiny, 2.5-foot deep “corridor house” 1B Ennismore Gardens Mews, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 1HX sells for £810,000 ($1 million, €936,000 or درهم3.7 million) at Savills auction Narrow in Knightsbridge – 2.5-foot wide house sells for £810,000 –Tiny, 2.5-foot deep “corridor house” 1B Ennismore Gardens Mews, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 1HX sells for £810,000 ($1 million, €936,000 or درهم3.7 million) at Savills auction

  • A Tremendous Triangle

    A Tremendous Triangle

    Iconic modernist house in Connecticut by renowned architect John Black Lee reduced in price by 60%

     

    Award winning architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) was born in Chicago and took influence from the ‘Harvard Five’ architects Marcel Breur and Philip C. Johnson. He built, for his own occupation, a house 48 miles outside of New York at 160 Mill Road, New Caanan in Fairfield County, Connecticut and now, following his death at the age of 91, it is for sale.

     

    A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)

     

    A Quaker and Brown educated, Black Lee, is often referenced as the ‘Sixth of the Harvard Five’ and is best known for the ‘Desilver House’ he built in 1961. He worked as an apprentice carpenter for Walter Gropius, was a father of three and also wrote a book about free diving.

     

    Construction of 160 Mill Road – or the ‘Triangle House’ as some have referenced it – commenced in 1990 and though it is “unfinished”, Black Lee lived there for 25 years. It stands above the Silvermine River and is built on its banks and into the hill. Made entirely from concrete, the 1,980 square foot property features an open floor plan with a cantilevered terrace, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

     

    Of the property, which stands in 2.54 acres of land, Black Lee once remarked: “This house is the only one in New Canaan that you enter through a skylight” and amongst its features are a massive triangular brick fireplace that anchors the building, a skylight that floods light throughout and views across the surrounding wilderness.

     

    In August 2016, selling agent Susan Blabey of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty spoke about the house to The Hour. She commented:

     

    “You could never duplicate this house, but it could be finished. They wouldn’t let you build it like this today, this close to the water. It just needs someone who wants to roll up their sleeves and polish the apple”.

     

    On the market for at least 138 days and close to the Silvermine Golf Course, 160 Mill Road was originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million). Taxes stand at £9,028 ($11,409 or €10,740 or درهم‎‎41,900) per year – which will unlikely trouble the eventual purchaser: New Canaan has the highest median family income in the United States.

     

    The likely buyer? A modernist design fan looking for a truly unique weekend retreat.

     

    A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million) A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million) A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)A Tremendous Triangle – Iconic modernist house at 160 Mill Road, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut, CT 06840, USA – Sixth of the Harvard Five architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) – The Triangle House – Originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million)

  • No regrets

    No regrets

    Idyllic former home of Édith Piaf for sale for £3.5 million (more…)

  • Five of the Best: The Restoration Show Sale

    Five of the Best: The Restoration Show Sale

    The Steeple Times selects five of the best cars on offer at the 6th March Silverstone Auctions’ Restoration Show Sale at the NEC in Birmingham (more…)

  • Picture of the Week: Roka and Range Rover

    Picture of the Week: Roka and Range Rover

    North Audley Street postbox outside Roka restaurant that has been tagged “Range Rover Street” sums up what that area has become
     (more…)

  • A Kaiser double

    A Kaiser double

    Rare 1954 Kaiser-Darrin roadsters to be auctioned in Arizona and Paris; they come complete with unusual sliding doors (more…)

  • A landmark Chrysler

    A landmark Chrysler

    Example of America’s finest era of automotive excellence, a 1953 Chrysler Special coupé by Ghia, heads to auction (more…)