Tag: 6 bedrooms

A Modern Beauty

“One of Britain’s finest 20th-century country houses” has been placed for sale for £20 million; it comes with 530 acres and was built by the late businessman Sebastian de Ferranti in the 1980s

One could imagine being in the early 18^th century or in Italy even on first taking a look at the Palladian style Henbury Hall, near Macclesfield in Cheshire. However, as Moliere said: “One is easily fooled by that one loves” and in reality this 12,496 square foot beauty was actually constructed between 1980 and 1986.

The vision of the buccaneer businessman and patron of the arts Sebastian de Ferranti (1927 – 2015) and based upon Palladio’s Villa Rotunda at Vizenza, the 6-bedroomed main residence stands on the site of an earlier mansion demolished in the 1950s. It was designed by the architect Julian Bicknell in conjunction with Felix Kelly and David Mlinaric, was constructed by Tarmac Construction and is faced with warm-toned limestone from north east France. The estate also includes a Grade II listed dower house, five further houses and cottages, a Grade II listed and stable block and courtyard.

The late Sebastian de Ferranti

Henbury Hall during construction

A depiction of the original Henbury Hall in 1707

The front elevation of the current Henbury Hall with parkland beyond

Aside from 12 acres of immaculate gardens with a series of lakes, there is a 200 year old landscaped park, woodland, agricultural land, a beautifully designed swimming pool, a tennis court and a polo field.

Selling agents Savills offer the Henbury Hall Estate as a whole for a guide price of £20 million – a world away from the £9,000 sum the estate sold for in 1872 (the equivalent of £934,000 today).

November 11, 2017
A Derelict Doer-Upper

Derelict 18^th century Oxfordshire mansion with 125 acres of land for sale for £10 million

A 125-acre Oxfordshire estate with Humphrey Repton landscaped grounds has gone on sale for £10 million ($13.2 million, €11.3 million or درهم48.7 million) in spite of being described as being “in poor order.”

The Coombe Park Estate at Whitchurch-on-Thames is situated at the end of a ¾ of a mile long private drive just 49 miles from Central London. Constructed in 1865, the original mansion was later demolished and what now remains consists of a 13,368 square foot house created from the original servants’ quarters, a coach house and an extension built in 1982.

Featuring 4 main reception rooms, an indoor swimming pool, 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, Coombe Park itself “has been unoccupied a number of years” but now presents an opportunity for a buyer to unleash its “enormous potential” according to selling agents Strutt & Parker.

In addition to the main residence, there are three additional houses, an orangery, a coach house, offices, a sports pavilion, an indoor tennis court, stabling and a boat house included in the sale.

According to a blog from 2008, the estate – which was used by the American military as a rest and recuperation ‘flak house’ during the Second World War – has been in the ownership of an individual from Rotterdam since 1982. He is described as having now “sadly lost his fortune.”

October 17, 2017
A Caged Crib

Former San Francisco home of actor Nicolas Cage for sale for £11.4 million or 660% more than it sold for in 1996

Thrice married and an Academy Award winning actor Nicolas Cage is also known for lavish spending. Aside from once buying twenty-two cars in one hit – including a “squadron” of nine Rolls-Royce – he “wound up” owning fifteen personal residences in 2007 and now one of them is for sale for £11.4 million.

898 Francisco Street in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighbourhood was purchased by a trust connected to Cage in 2006 for £6.9 million and sold by him in 2008 at a loss for £6.3 million. It was built in Gothic Tudor style in 1914, extends to 6,305 square foot and is spread over four floors.

The front door is an example of fine craftmanship within the house

As is the carving on this fireplace

Featuring 4 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms, the house also has a 2-car garage and enjoys views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the Bay Area. It has a garden to the rear and is adjoined by a further adjacent plot on Hyde Street that has potential for a further residence.

Debi Dicello of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing and seeks either a total of £11.4 million for the entire property or £8.8 million for the main house and £2.6 million for the adjacent 40-foot by 60-foot lot.

898 Francisco Street – The Numbers

2017 – £8.8 million ($12 million, €10 million or درهم44.1 million) for the main house plus £2.6 million ($3.5million, €2.9 million or درهم12.9 million) for the adjoining plot.

2008 – Sold for £6.3 million ($8.5 million, €7.1 million or درهم31.2 million).

2006 – Bought by a trust connected to Nicolas Cage for £6.9 million ($9.4 million, €7.9 million or درهم34.5 million).

1996 – Sold for £1.5 million ($2 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.4 million).

September 17, 2017
Gothic Grandeur

Oxford’s only Strawberry Hill Gothic house for £2.15 million in spite of needing complete renovation

A house built in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style in Oxford has gone on sale for £2.15 million ($2.80 million, €2.43 million or درهم10.29 million) in spite of needing complete renovation.

Constructed circa 1840 – 1850 on the site of an earlier house, The Priory in Iffley Village has a battlemented stuccoed front on rubble with 19^th century Gothic traceried windows, a crenelated parapet and a Welsh slate mansard roof. It is described as being Oxford’s only example of this flamboyant style of architecture and was at one point run as a school run by Ursuline nuns.

Grade II listed since 1972, the 4,817 square foot property includes 6 reception rooms, a first floor kitchen, 6 bedrooms and 4 basement rooms but just 1 bathroom. It stands on a private, mature plot of 0.93 acres adjoining the Hawkwell House Hotel and is offered by agents Butler Sherborn.

July 19, 2017
Breaking For Gold

Thatched seaside cottage in West Sussex for sale; it has a plot laid out in the style of the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winning garden of 1936

A thatched seaside cottage on what has been described as “the Sussex Riviera” has gone on sale for £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) through agents Savills.

Having the look of something you might also find in the Hamptons in America, The Breakers on the Willowhayne Estate at East Preston, near Littlehampton was built in 1936 in the Arts and Crafts style and restored over the last nine years by the current owners.

Providing 6,006 square foot of accommodation over three floors, the house includes 4 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. It stands on a 0.75-acre beachside plot laid out in the plan of the winning garden at Chelsea Flower Show in 1936 and has an outdoor swimming pool – built in 2010 – also.

A neighbouring house, owned by one of the original question setters for the game Trivial Pursuit, burnt to the ground in January 2014.

July 9, 2017
Peaking in Pacific Heights

Indication of booming realty market in San Francisco provided in the form of a Pacific Heights pad offered for sale for 1,503% more than it sold 20 years ago

A detached house in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights that dates to 1906 has gone on sale for a sum £9.8 million higher than it sold for in 1997.

Subject to a seismic upgrade and renovated in 2013, 2370 Washington Street is located in the popular Fillmore corridor and situated on a 50-foot wide lot.

Aside from 4 reception rooms, 2 kitchens, 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, the 7,965 square foot house features a media room, a wine cellar, an elevator and a 4-car garage.

2370 Washington Street is offered for £8.2 million by agents Neal Ward Properties.

The Numbers – 2370 Washington Street, San Francisco

Sold for $655,000 in 1997 (the equivalent of $999,000, £785,000, €893,000 or درهم3.7 million today) in 1997.

Sold for $1.68 million in 2012 (the equivalent of $1.79 million, £1.41 million, €1.60 million or درهم6.57 million today).

Asking price of $10.5 million today (£8.2 million, €9.3 million or درهم38.6 million).

June 15, 2017
Sail Away

Georgian house in Emsworth, Hampshire complete with its own private dock for sale for £3.4 million

A symmetrical, yellow brick early 19^th century house complete with its own private dock has gone on sale for £3.4 million ($4.4 million, €3.9 million or درهم16.1 million).

Grade II listed Wharf House in the small town of Emsworth stands in gardens of 0.72 acres and comes with a dock with a 45-foot capacity. It has tidal access to the Emsworth Channel, which leads to Chichester Harbour, and comes with a private slipway.

Wharf House itself provides 5,231 square foot of accommodation over four floors and features 3 reception rooms, an orangery, 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. A double garage and garden room are to be found within the grounds and there is potential to add an outdoor pool.

Agents Strutt & Parker describe the property as: “A rarely available Georgian gem”.

June 1, 2017
Staging the Dollars

Prominent banker attempts to sell San Francisco mansion for a sum 205% higher than it achieved in 1993; it comes with an outdoor theatre

Built in 1904 of brick on a wood frame and subject to a seismic upgrade in 1994, 3444 Washington Street in Presidio Heights, San Francisco was sold for $15.2 million in 2006 (the equivalent of £11.8 million, $18.4 million, €13.9 million or درهم55.8 million today) and before that for $5.9 million in 1993 (the equivalent of £7.8 million, $10 million, €9.1 million or درهم36.7 million today). It is currently owned by the banker David A. Coulter and his “social entrepreneur” wife Susan Weeks Coulter and has recently been placed for sale for £14 million ($18 million, €16.5 million or درهم66.1 million).

Offered by Linda Mayne of Mayne & Company, the 9,074 square foot “Georgian-style residence” comes with not only 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms but also an outdoor amphitheatre complete with terraced seating and an al fresco kitchen with a barbecue. The 4-storey building was last remodeled in 2008 and also includes a media room with wet bar and views of the Golden Gate Bridge, a wine cellar with capacity for 1,600 bottles, a lift, staff quarters and a 2-car garage.

Susan Weeks Coulter and her husband David A. Coulter (left and right)

3444 Washington Street, Presidio Heights, San Francisco, California, CA 94118, United States of America

The garden features an amphitheatre complete with terraced seating

The view from the house

Property taxes on the house were a not insubstantial sum of £154,959 in 2015 ($199,685, €182,686 or درهم733,690). Mr and Mrs Coulter attempted to sell 3444 Washington Street in 2008 but subsequently withdrew it from the market after reducing their then asking price from $17.5 million to $12 million (the equivalent of £13.6 million to £10.6 million, $19.9 million to $13.6 million, €16 million to €12.4 million or درهم64.3 million to درهم50 million today). They also own reportedly bought a penthouse at 55 East 72^nd Street in New York in 2012.

Pennsylvania born, Carnegie Mellon University educated Mr Coulter, currently a special limited partner at Warburg Pincus, was previously vice chairman of JP Morgan Chase & Co. from 2001 to 2005. He was chairman and CEO of Bank of America Corporation for two years from 1996, but was unceremoniously fired when that organisation was “eaten alive” by Hugh McColl’s NationsBank in October 1998.

https://vimeo.com/212072933

May 13, 2017
Large in Lowndes

Vast Knightsbridge penthouse with two terraces and a double garage for sale for a sum 478% higher than it achieved in 2000

A penthouse across three buildings in Knightsbridge that sold for £5.1 million (the equivalent of £7.9 million, $9.6 million, €9 million or درهم 35.3 million today) in November 2000 has gone on the market for the much increased sum of £29.5 million ($35.9 million, €33.6 million or درهم 131.8 million).

Exterior of 23–25 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 9HD

Featuring 16 windows overlooking a mature communal garden and a gross internal area of 6,215 square foot, The Penthouse at 23 to 25 Lowndes Square has six bedrooms, two roof terraces and private garaging for two cars. It is offered on a 992 year lease with a share of the freehold and is subject to a whopping annual service charge of £50,576 per year ($61,525, €57,635 or درهم 225,982).

The selling agents are Savills of Sloane Street.

March 12, 2017
A Village Ideal

Unlisted 18^th century Georgian residence near Badminton for sale; ideal for those looking to quit the rat race

City dwellers and commuters regularly dream of quitting the rat race for a life in the country and when they watch programmes like Escape to the Country and Downton Abbey, they see an idealised vision of rural life. Such people could do worse than take a look at Dauncey House at Tormarton, near Badminton in South Gloucestershire, a property that is currently for sale through Hamptons International.

Reduced in price from £1.3 million ($1.6 million, €1.5 million or درهم5.8 million) to £1.2 million ($1.5 million, €1.4 million or درهم5.4 million), this attractive Cotswold stone village house was also marketed for £1.3 million in 2009 according to Country Life magazine. It is situated within a village where you’ll count the ‘King of Hoovers’ Sir James Dyson and the Duke of Beaufort as neighbours and it is believed that “humans have been active in the area for more than 6,000 years”.

Surprisingly unlisted and providing 3,368 square foot of accommodation, Dauncey House includes 3 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It stands in 2.5 acres of gardens and orchards and though perhaps a little blandly decorated currently, provides what the selling agents call “flexibility for the growing family”.

Situated just 10 miles north of Bath and 1 mile north-east of Junction 18 of the M4 motorway, this handsome 18^th century Georgian residence would make an ideal home for a commuter. Chippenham, just 12 miles away, provides a direct service to London Paddington.

January 11, 2017