Wacky Leeds born actor Geoffrey Bayldon was best known for playing Catweazle in the 1970s series of the same name as the Crowman in Worzel Gummidge. Bayldon also played ‘Q’ in Casino Royale in 1967, was gay, turned down the role of Dr Who twice thinking the series “too long” and enjoyed collecting watercolour paintings, gardening and walking.
Chelsea studio house built for “spiritual artist” Arild Rosenkrantz and later home to the extremely eccentric lesbian heiress and powerboater ‘Joe’ Carstairs for sale for £8.95 million
“Spiritual seeker” and artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) was born in Denmark, studied in Rome and married his Scottish cousin, Louise Mackenzie, in 1901. His commissions included ceiling panels at Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair and illustrating the Danish edition of Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Mystery Adventure and now a Chelsea home built for him is for sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million).
Designed by the Maidenhead based architect Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) and Grade II listed since 1997, red brick built, 4-storey 5 Mulberry Walk is described as being of a “stripped Classical Mannerist style”. It features the artist’s initials on the rectangular profile downpipe and was his home from when it was finished until 1922.
Subsequently sold to the eccentric and extremely masculine heiress Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) for £3,000 in the early 1920s (the equivalent of just £167,000, $215,000, €197,000 or درهم791,000 today), 5 Mulberry Walk became the party venue for the “fastest, artiest, gayest, not to mention the most alcoholic and drug-addicted set in London at the time”. Carstairs – a lesbian described as “usually dressed as a man, having tattooed arms, and loving machines, adventure and speed” – remained there well into the 1930s and even had a name plaque for a doll she was obsessed with, ‘Lord Tod Wadley’, placed on the building’s door.
Extending to 3,163 square foot in total, 5 Mulberry Walk is currently divided into two apartments. The first, a ground floor studio with a 32-foot wide garden, has 1 bedroom whilst the second covers three floors and has 4 bedrooms. Each has a large artist’s studio space and in total there are 2 kitchens, 3 bathrooms and a roof terrace as well.
5 Mulberry Walk, which is most definitely ready for modernisation and reconfiguration internally, is offered by Russell Simpson.
Conversion of “one of Europe’s first purpose-built office blocks” for sale; £3.5 million Grade II* listed Georgian house in Bath literally straddles a canal
Some people dream of living beside a lake or a river, but a Grade II* listed detached property recently placed on the market in Bath gives anyone with £3.5 million ($4.2 million, €4.5 million or درهم16.6 million) to spare the opportunity to literally live above a man-made waterway.
Cleveland House – originally known as Canal House – stands on top of a bridge and tunnel that straddles the Kennet & Avon Canal and in spite of being built as “one of Europe’s first purpose-built office blocks” has a look that is very much “Georgian domestic”. The limestone ashlar, three-storey building was constructed to the designs of one of Bath’s greatest architects, John Pinch the Elder (1769 – 1827), between 1817 and 1820 and served as the canal’s management headquarters until 1864.
Converted next to residential usage and then requisitioned for government use in 1939, the building again reverted to office usage. A property developer named Trevor Osborne then acquired it and commenced a transformation into what is described as “a truly exceptional Bath residence” in 2015.
Aside from 7,218 square foot of accommodation, including 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, what makes Cleveland House truly remarkable are its entertaining spaces. The 30-foot long former company boardroom, complete with a 20-foot high newly repainted domed ceiling, is now the house’s drawing room and in addition there is a formal dining room and a library. Whilst a fully prepared cinema room and wine cellars are housed in the basement, other points of note are a large, newly built family room, a first floor roof terrace and garaging for four cars.
Cleveland House is offered by Carter Jonas.
Cadogan Square flat for sale for a sum that, if achieved, could make it the most expensive subterranean home in London; it is offered at a price that equates to £2,130 per square foot
Created from the merger of two flats, one of which was marketed for £3 million ($3.8 million, €3.5 million or درهم14.1 million) in 2013, a basement apartment in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge has gone on sale for the staggering sum of £6.25 million ($8.01 million, €7.35 million or درهم29.42 million).
Possibly one of the most expensive subterranean homes in London, if not the world, the 2,933 square foot remodeled apartment comes with a Moroccan themed courtyard garden and includes not only 2 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, but also a coffee bar, a television room and a steam room. It is described as providing a “flexible living” space.
The share of freehold property is offered by Strutt & Parker and situated within a Grade II* listed building designed by the Scottish architect Richard Norman Shaw (1831 – 1912) in 1883.
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 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.
Part of a Mayfair house occupied by the art critic John Ruskin and the architect Charles Tatham before him comes to the market for £1.25 million despite requiring complete renovation, having just 923 square foot of floor space and being held on a lease of only 15 years (more…)
Pioneer of pizza in Britain places £1.15 million Lancashire home on the market (more…)
£3 million sought for a repossessed, roofless shell set in 1,530 acres of Cumbrian countryside (more…)
