Black cab (in green) that has never carried a paying passenger to be auctioned in May; it was originally owned by construction giants Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd.
What do the Duke of Edinburgh, Noel Edmonds, Yvette Fielding, Stephen Fry, Simon Hughes, Stanley Kubrick, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kate Moss, Sir Laurence Olivier and Arnold Schwarzenegger have in common? All of them, variously, have owned black cabs (also known as ‘Hackney carriages’ and ‘hacks’).
Stephen Fry with the black cab he owns.The ex-Nubar Gulbenkian 1960 Austin FX4 Brougham Sedanca taxi with coachwork by FLM Panelcraft. It was sold at auction for £31,900 ($39,000, €36,200 or درهم143,600) in 2015 by Bonhams at their Quail Lodge auction in Carmel, California.
Whilst in the past, the eccentric Armenian business magnate and socialite Nubar Gulbenkian went one stage further and “dolled-up” a 1960 Austin FX4 taxi to his own specifications, a more modern adapted example is to be sold by Bonhams in May.
Lacking a traditional amber light on its roof, the 2006 London Taxi International TXII Gold to be offered has “never carried a fare paying passenger in its life.” This vehicle, instead, was bought new by the construction company Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. and subsequently given a “bespoke upgrade” costing £12,000 ($14,700, €13,600 or درهم53,900) by LTI dealers KPM Automotive.
Fitted with replacement green velour seating in the passenger section, the 2.4-litre, automatic car has two Motorola telephones, air-conditioning, an intercom and a fold-down wheelchair access ramp. It has covered 18,000 miles from new and is described as being in generally “superb condition” and having a “distinguished air.”
Bonhams will offer the taxi at their online Bicester sale on 30th May. They have set an estimate of £12,000 to £18,000 ($14,700 to $22,000, €13,600 to €20,400 or درهم53,900 to درهم80,900).
As someone named Lou Erickson once said: “Life is like a taxi. The meter keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still.”
Texan estate for sale for sum 43% less than in 2011; it comes with the “finest private bowling alley in America” and a car museum
In March 2015, The Steeple Times featured a Texan mansion described by some as “more iconic than Southfork.” Back then this “replica of George Washington’s Virginia estate” had been for sale for four years already and now, in March 2020, it’s still on the market.
Offered at prices as high as £26.1 million and as low as £12 million, Mount Vernon overlooks White Rock Lake in Dallas and was built between 1928 and 1930. It was sold in 1938 to one of the world’s largest oil baron’s, H. L. Hunt (1889 – 1974) – a man “reputed to have the highest net worth of any individual in the world” at the time of his death.
John Amend with Laura Bush at the bowling alley at Mount Vernon and with his wife Teresa.One of the entrances to Mount Vernon, 4009 West Lawther Drive, Dallas, Texas, TX 75214, United States of America.
Passing on to a commercial real estate tycoon and fellow supporter of the Bush political dynasty named John Amend in 1999, the 10,511 square foot house was subsequently renovated and aside from creating spaces including a prayer room, a 10,000 bottle wine cellar, a 1950s style diner and a car museum, what is considered to be the finest private bowling centre in America was added. It comes complete with a digital jukebox that has over 500,000 songs on its concert hall quality sound system
Whilst Mr Amend and his wife Teresa hosted guests including Glenn Close and President George W. Bush at Mount Vernon, in 2011 they decided to “simplify their lives” and placed it for sale. In the time since, its yoyo-ed on and off the market but speaking about the property to the Dallas News in February this year, realtor Allie Beth Allman claimed the Amends have now “made it a goal to sell the property this year.” She went further and stated:
“Many interested buyers have made offers, but the family has been reluctant to sell… The kids are just now at the age that they really enjoy it, and they spend a lot of time over there. It’s hard to give that up when your grandkids are saying, ‘Oh, don’t sell.’”
The Names & Numbers – Mount Vernon, 4009 West Lawther Drive, Dallas, Texas, TX 75214, United States of America
March 2020 – Relisted at £14.9 million ($18.5 million, €16.6 million or درهم67.9 million) and still for sale through Allie Beth Allman & Associates.
May 2019 – Relisted at a price of £12 million ($14.9 million, €13.4 million or درهم54.7 million).
May 2016 – Relisted at a price of £14.1 million ($17.5 million, €15.7 million or درهم64.3 million).
March 2015 – Featured in The Steeple Times whilst listed with Allie Beth Allman & Associates and Christie’s Real Estate at a price of £15.3 million ($19 million, €17 million or درهم68 million).
September 2013 – Reduced in price to £15.3 million ($19 million, €17 million or درهم68 million).
November 2012 – Reduced in price to £23.7 million ($29.5 million, €26.5 million or درهم108.3 million).
2011 – Placed for sale for £26.1 million ($32.5 million, €29.2 million or درهم119.4 million).
2004 – Hosted its first event as “the nation’s finest professionally equipped bowling centre.” The alley reportedly cost £1.16 million ($1.45 million, €1.3 million or درهم5.33 million) to construct.
2002 – Renovated and expanded.
1999 – Sold to the self-declared real estate “pioneer and innovator” John T. Amend and his wife Teresa for an undisclosed sum.
1938 – Sold by Thomas Y. Pickett to Harold Lafayette Hunt, Jr. for $69,000 or the equivalent of £740,000 today ($922,000, €826,000 or درهم3.4 million today).
Highlight of the art and antiques calendar, Masterpiece London, announces its 2020 fair has been cancelled due to coronavirus
The brainchild of renowned dealer Harry Apter and three other founding members, Masterpiece London was due to take place at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea from 24th June to 1st July.
Sadly, as with many other largescale events, yesterday, its organisers announced they had “decided to cancel this year’s edition” due to the coronavirus outbreak. In a release on their official website, Masterpiece London, however, confirmed their 2021 fair will go ahead from 24th to 30th June 2021 and stated they will be launching a “range of initiatives in lieu of this year’s edition.”
In December 2017, MCH Group, the owners of Art Basel, bought 67.5% of the shares in the company that organises the fair. They most sensibly retained the esteemed expert Philip Hewat-Jaboor as chairman.
A full statement was issued on Masterpiece’s website. It reads:
In light of the evolving Covid-19 pandemic and increasing measures taken to combat it by the UK government, we have decided to cancel this year’s edition of Masterpiece London, which was scheduled to take place from 24 June – 1 July 2020. We are grateful for the support and hard work of our exhibitors, partners and staff in preparation for this year’s edition of the Fair; however the health of everyone involved in Masterpiece London is our absolute priority during these unprecedented times.
We are committed to supporting our exhibitors and visitors, and over the coming weeks will share details of a range of initiatives we will be launching in lieu of this year’s edition.
We look forward to welcoming you to the next edition of Masterpiece London, which will take place from 24 – 30 June 2021.
Nicky Haslam designed Belgravia house for sale for 33% less than in 2010 in spite of yoyo-ing up and down in price for ten years
Estate agents like to make things sound grander generally and often give a house a name rather than a number. In the case of ‘Orpheo House’ in Belgravia, they’ve done the opposite and even though technically it stands in Elizabeth Street, its listed address is the rather grander sounding ‘50a Eaton Square.’
Grosvenor Estate owned Eaton Square, developed from 1827 onwards, has variously been home to actors, politicians and statesmen. Amongst them have been Stanley Baldwin, Sean Connery, Rex Harrison, Vivien Leigh, Joachim von Ribbentrop, George Soros and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and most recently in 2019, the square was used as a location in the hit BBC drama series The Capture.
50a Eaton Square has had a curious history. In 1992, it was listed as the final address of the fourth and last Baron of Southborough on his death and subsequently, in 2009, it was sold to a “British music executive” according to Financial News. In 2010, he commissioned the renowned interior designer Nicky Haslam to turn it into a “trophy home” and the “epitome of comfortable luxury.” It now includes not only air conditioning and underfloor heating, but also has “secret drawers for DVDs” and “display cabinets for watches and sunglasses.”
“Super-stylish… [and] whimsical… with a Parisienne theme” according to the Evening Standard in 2016, the three-storey property fronts Elizabeth Street, but can also be accessed from a side door into Eaton Mews West – a cobbled street that has been home to Belgravia Garage since 1930.
Plainly, being next to the busy garage and car wash has put off buyers given that the property has yoyo-ed on and off the market at prices as high as £4.5 million since 2010. The real problem, however, is that the remaining 26-year lease is not enfranchisable.
Extending to 2,253 square feet, 50a Eaton Square features a double reception room, an Italian black lacquer kitchen and a small bedroom suite on its ground floor, a 25-foot by 24-foot reception on its first floor whilst a “generous” bedroom suite with dressing room, bathroom and west facing roof terrace takes up the entire second floor. A spiral wine cellar is located on the lower ground floor and a parking space within the mews is also included.
Agents Rokstone now seek the very much reduced sum of £3 million for the property.
March 2020 – Reduced in price to £3 million ($3.5 million, €3.3 million or درهم12.9 million) and still available through agents Rokstone.
November 2019 – Listed for sale on Zoopla.com for £3.45 million ($4 million, €3.7 million or درهم14.8 million).
June 2018 – Listed for sale in Square Mile magazine for £4.25 million ($5 million, €4.6 million or درهم18.3 million).
October 2016 – Featured in the Evening Standard’s ‘Homes & Property’ section at a price of £4.25 million ($5 million, €4.6 million or درهم18.3 million) with agents Rokstone.
July 2011 – Listed as the ‘House of the Day’ on the Financial News website at a price of £3.95 million ($4.6 million, €4.3 million or درهم17 million) through agents Savills.
January 2010 – Listed for sale in Square Mile magazine for £4.5 million ($5.3 million, €4.9 million or درهم19.4 million) with agents Aylesford.
2009 – Sold to a “British music executive” according to Financial News. They state: “He moved out last year while [Nicky] Haslam completely gutted the house, taking it back to bare brick and changing the ceiling heights.”
June 1992 – Described as the last address of Francis Michael Hopwood, Lord Southborough, whom died on 15th June 1992 (born 1922). Given the fourth Baron of Southborough had no offspring, the title (which was created in 1917 by King George V) then became extinct.
June 1955 – Featured in The Gazette as the address of Ambrose Dasent, an engineer and relative of the Sir George Webbe Dasent (1817 – 1896), the renowned translator of Scandinavian literature and mythology.
February 1936 – Featured in The Times as having “been sold by Messrs.’ George Trollope and Sons before auction.
The designer of the interior of 50a Eaton Square, Nicky Haslam (pictured with fellow socialite Paris Hilton).The entrance hall and staircase.The main reception room.Viewed from another angle.The room includes a bar and is opulent in its styling.A second reception room, on the ground floor, features a sitting area within a bay window.It is has a division.With a dining area beyond.The kitchen features a central island.The main bedroom suite.Another view of that suite’s bathroom.The suite comes with its own roof terrace.The second bedroom is situated on the ground floor.A floor plan of the property.
Grade II* listed Cumbrian mansion built by opium dealer and once marketed for £1.5 million for sale for just £460,000; it was also the scene of the UK’s biggest ever cannabis raid in 2012
A 23,000 square foot, 52 room, mid-19th century Palladian mansion in the Westmorland Dales National Park is to be sold at auction – by order of the mortgagees not in possession – for £1 million less than it was marketed for in 2014. It is sadly now described as being in an utterly wrecked, vandalised condition.
The entrance elevation of the mansion then and now
The strikingly grand interiors of Flass (prior to visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)
The completely trashed interiors of the mansion (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)
Built in 1851 for wealthy merchant brothers and tea and opium magnets Lancelot and Wilkinson Dent, 8-bedroomed Flass at Maulds Meaburn, near Penrith in Cumbria was designed by architects Grey and Mair and includes furnishings by the renowned firm Gillows of Lancaster and London.
Opulent to its core and said to have featured marble fireplaces, ivory door handles and friezes with pearls, Flass remained in the Dent family until 1973. Just prior to being sold for £17,000 (the equivalent of £202,000 today) that year to a historian named Frank Walsh, the then owner Sir Robert Dent opened up an attic of the house and discovered items from the Mughal Empire that he then auctioned for the astounding sum of £220,000 (the equivalent of £2.6 million today).
Subsequently this vast stucco finished, limestone built house – complete with a Doric porte-cochère and a three-storey tower – became a care home and was then after sold in 2000 to a singer-songwriter best known for co-writing the creepy Christian crooner Sir Cliff Richard’s Devil Woman named Christine Holmes (also known as Kristine Sparkle) and her husband Paul Davies. The pair turned the property into a performing arts school.
After the couple divorced, Davies took control of the mansion but due to spiraling maintenance costs, he eventually got himself involved with a gang of drug dealers in 2011. Due to what rental agents at the time described as the house being “totally private and hidden away, with an unmatched seclusion and charm,” Davies and his five cohorts were able to grow cannabis with a street value of £5.26 million undetected until a neighbour became suspicious. He was jailed for his role in the crime for three years and eight months in September 2015.
Singer-songwriter Christine Holmes outside Flass in September 2017 (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’ and their having trashed her home)
Paul Davies turned Flass into Britain’s biggest cannabis farm (and got himself three years and eight months in jail for his efforts; on his conviction his representative said: “He blames nobody but himself for getting involved in this criminal business”)
The “massive scale” £5 million cannabis farm operated at Flass was described in court as “a professional setup” and having the “real hallmarks of organised crime”
Christine Holmes subsequently took back control of Flass and after trying and failing to sell the house for £1.5 million spent £200,000 on renovations to put right the damage done by the drug operation. Her bad luck, however, was not to end there. In September 2017, the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald reported that a gang of ‘Urban Explorers’ had raided the somewhat derelict building and filmed their exploits. In the weeks that followed, trespassers returned at least twelve further times and “ransacked and trashed” the once glorious residence. She told the paper:
“I was absolutely horrified when I saw [videos of the house] online. I couldn’t believe how anyone could come into my home and believe it was an abandoned building.”
“I think since then people have been staying in the building and have even been there hiding while I’ve been there. I’m petrified. These are evil people who are breaking into my home. I think it’s becoming a game to them. They are breaking in every day.”
Auctioneers Harman Healy will now offer Grade II* listed Flass along with 17.5 acres of overgrown grounds with a guide price of just £460,000+ on 30th January. Christine Holmes no doubt will be glad if she finally gets shot of what she likely ended up considering to be the worst kind of white elephant.
Flass – The Numbers
January 2019 – To be offered at auction with a guide price of just £460,000 ($596,000, €525,000 or درهم2.2 million).
July 2014 – Offered for sale for £1.5 million ($1.9 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.1 million).
2000 – Sold for £490,000 ($635,000, €559,000 or درهم2.3 million) to the currently jailed drug dealer Paul Davies and his then wife songwriter Christine Holmes.
1998 – Reduced to £650,000 ($842,000, €741,000 or درهم3.1 million).
1997 – For sale for £750,000 ($972,000, €855,000 or درهم3.6 million).
1982 – Sold for £115,000 ($149,000, €131,000 or درهم547,000) to a retired solicitor named Malcolm Whiteside. He turned Flass into a care home which he ran with his wife Mary.
1973 – Sold by Sir Robert Dent, a descendant of the family who built the house, for £17,000 ($22,000, €19,000 or درهم81,000) to a historian named Frank Welsh.
Should there be a blue plaque in honour of the controversial explorer Gertrude Bell in Cadogan Square in spite of the fact she did not actually “live” there?
Today, in The Guardian, arts correspondent Mark Brown reported on the controversy that has arisen as a result of English Heritage deciding it appropriate to approve a blue plaque in honour of Gertrude Bell CBE (1868 – 1926) in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge.
Gertrude Bell has variously been described as an administrator, peace maker, preserver of heritage, pioneer and a woman of international influence. She was also considered a spy and mocked for opposing vote’s for women.
Though home to the explorer’s grandmother and a place she stayed at on “numerous occasions” for over 40 years, Bell’s biographer, Graham Best, asks: “Is this a case of cultural appropriation? … She didn’t really have anything to do with London.”
He continues:
“The thing with Gertrude Bell is that everyone is trying to appropriate her as a person. She is deeply misunderstood.”
“The thing is everyone is trying to grab hold of Gertrude Bell and say yes, she’s one of us. But she’s not.”
Going further, the article also attempts to smear “Queen of the Desert” Bell by referring to the fact that she opposed vote’s for women and repeatedly makes reference to the William Morris designed Red Barns in Redcar being her genuine home.
Just like with Queen Elizabeth I – a woman who seemingly slept in every bed in the land – it is effectively plaques to famous people could end up being put up just about everywhere they ever went. In February this year, The Steeple Times reported on a condominium in Pacific Heights, San Francisco that was for sale complete with a plaque that proclaimed: “2151 Sacramento Street: This house, built in 1881, was once occupied by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” It turned out that the author had “visited” the building for just a few hours.
Pictured top: Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell with Robert Pattinson as T. E. Lawrence in the “muddled mess” that was Werner Herzog’s 2015 film ‘Queen of the Desert.’
Produced between 1923 and 1939, Austin Sevens were a huge success because they were “simply constructed, economical and easily maintained by the home mechanic.” They “brought motoring within the financial reach of the man in the street” and by the time production ceased, over 290,000 had been made.
The canary yellow car to be offered was purchased by the current owner in 2013 and restored between 2015 and 2017 at an additional cost of £20,000 ($25,700, €22,100 or درهم94,300). It features a rebuilt engine, gearbox, front and rear axels, steering and brakes and has been driven just 400 miles since recommissioning.
An estimate of £19,000 to £25,000 ($24,400 to $32,100, €21,000 to €27,600 or درهم89,600 to درهم117,900) has been set for this little beauty. What better way could one think to take to the open road?
A bit of a wildchild, Kyra Kennedy is the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (‘RFK’ to his friends). In 2015, she “freaked out” at a New York club that refused to let her in and “screamed”: “I’m a Kennedy, Google me!” whilst in 2016, she again hit headlines after allegedly cyberbullying a blogger named Allie Jones. Born in 1995 in Massachusetts and educated in New York and Italy, Kennedy tells her 14,000 Instagram followers that she’s “somewhere between psychotic and iconic.”
Bizarrely largely overlooked by the mainstream media, the son of the ousted ex-MP for Kensington Lady ‘Call Me Victoria’ Borwick is an extremely well connected man who keeps himself under the radar on social media. The 31-year old has just 500 followers on Twitter – a surprisingly low number given he has been described as a “computer specialist” – and was put in a position of huge power as Vote Leave’s chief technology officer from August 2015 to July 2016.
Educated at the University of Richmond, Virginia from 2006 to 2010, with a period studying law courses at Cambridge briefly during 2008, Borwick subsequently worked in IT for the financial services company Killik & Co in 2012 and simultaneously “developed music technology for interactive lessons.”
More interestingly, this youngster’s move into political data profiling came also in 2012 when he founded a company named Kanto Systems with an aim of “bring[ing] UK Campaigning into the 21st century.” Here, Borwick developed a “mobile canvassing app” and came into contact with Cambridge Analytica in order to provide them with “digital services,” according to The Huffington Post. In turn, he sold an app to Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL, and now, in March this year, his firm was brought in by Ireland’s Save The 8th anti-abortion campaign group as part of their efforts “to persuade Irish voters to keep the country’s strict anti-abortion laws.”
“Hiring Thomas Borwick to create and manage a website is like employing the SAS to run security at a school hop or bringing in Einstein to tot up your shopping bill,” comments journalist Fintan O’Toole in The Irish Times, and in further revelations in the Evening Standard late March, Borwick himself admitted to also having worked with the equally controversial Canadian data firm Aggregate IQ – an operation that earned £3.5 million working for Vote Leave during the 2016 referendum campaign.
The public and press need to wake up and smell the coffee. The manipulation of politics in America, Britain, Ireland and elsewhere runs far deeper than even the most avid viewer of the Daily Politics could imagine. Figures like Thomas Borwick may well operate in the backrooms but it is increasingly becoming apparent that with doorstep canvassing all but irrelevant, such people are worryingly our new political powerhouses.
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Vast Greek Revival style Pennsylvania mansion for sale for 56% less than it was marketed for in 2014; it comes with a pub in the basement
An extravagant and somewhat over the top estate in Pennsylvania is on sale for £2.96 million or 56% less than the £6.75 million sum it was listed for back in 2014.
Extending to some 11,377 square foot and consisting of 7 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, Greek Revival style ‘Fatland’ – originally known as ‘Vaux Hill’ and known as such once again since 1990 – in Lower Providence, Montgomery County dates to circa 1843 and stands on the site of an earlier stone farmhouse. That building served as the headquarters of General George Washington in 1777 and also was used by General Sir William Howe.
Now set on a plot of just 11.29 acres, the Fatland Estate used to be significantly larger but was reduced by land sales to make way for an express highway, a housing development and 154 acres towards the expansion of the Valley Forge National Historical Park.
Barbara Safford speaking at the time of the 2013 sale of the contents of ‘The Fatland Estate’
The house as previously furnished
“Decorated in the rich French taste,” the house was stuffed to the brim with European antiques by an insurance tycoon named Robert Safford after he and his wife, Barbara, purchased it in 1990. The couple also altered ‘Fatland’s’ original asymmetrical composition with the addition of a west wing and end pavilion that mirrored the east wing and end pavilion and even added a pub to the building’s basement. After Mr Safford’s death in 2011, the property – which also includes an outdoor pool, tennis court and barn – was put up for sale in 2014 whilst separately, in 2013, Freeman’s auction house in Philadelphia held a sale of contents that netted £2.9 million.
After three years on the market and now with a significantly reduced asking price, Terese Brittingham and Tom McCouch of Keller Williams Realty Group are the agents currently handling ‘The Fatland Estate’s’ listing.
The Fatland Estate – The Numbers
November 2017 – For sale at a reduced price of £2.96 million ($3.95 million, €3.31 million or درهم14.50 million) after a pending sale in June failed to complete through Keller Williams Realty Group.
October 2016 – Relaunched to the market for £2.96 million ($3.95 million, €3.31 million or درهم14.50 million) through RE/MAX Elite.
August 2016 – Reduced to £3.7 million ($5 million, €4.2 million or درهم13.4 million).
February 2016 – Relaunched to the market for £5.248 million ($6.999 million, €5.866 million or درهم25.699 million).
September 2014 – For sale for £6.747 million ($8.999 million, €7.542 million or درهم33.042 million) through Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty.
July 1990 – Sold to Robert Safford and Barbara Harvey for £1.6 million ($2.1 million, €1.8 million or درهم7.7 million).
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