Boxy “Town Hall classical style” dictator crib ‘The Fountains’ on infamous The Bishops Avenue, N2 for sale for £3 million less than it listed for in 2012; this time it is destined for flattening
When we featured a 12,602 square foot house on The Bishops Avenue – a street often nicknamed ‘Billionaire’s Row” and a place where the Greek fashion tycoon Aristos Constantinou was shot dead on New Year’s Day 1985 with six bullets – in May 2015, it was for sale for £15 million.
Standing on a 0.65-acre plot, ‘The Fountains’ – originally named ‘Deans Cote’ and more simply known as just ‘39 The Bishops Avenue’ – has simply been left to rot in the time since and has now been placed on the market, but this time listed as just “land for sale.”
Gone, here, are the day of deviant dignitaries and dodgy despots entertaining in this house – built in 1926 and mocked more recently as “very boxy” and of a “Town Hall classical style” – and now, though much of the same furniture remains six years later, Knight Frank offer it for £12 million.
In spite of the £3 million reduction at a time when prices for houses with land has elsewhere risen, the seller has also spent time and money to gain planning permission to flatten the house and replace it with a larger 23,695 square foot “grand new build residence.”
Of the proposals, Knight Frank remark:
“The designs elevate the quality of the internal accommodation, offering increased lateral volume and a luxurious sense of space throughout.”
“The proposed residence comprises six-bedroom suites and a new lower ground floor with staff quarters and a range of additional amenity and leisure facilities including swimming pool, gym, cinema, catering kitchen and secure car parking.”
“The proposed landscaping for the private rear gardens includes a sensitive restoration of the historic water feature and pavilion.”
In 2014, whilst the Guardian revealed that of the 66 houses on the street, 16 were derelict and rotting, local estate agent Trevor Abrahmsohn bragged of it in 2006: “Among the wealthiest circles in the world, The Bishops Avenue is better known than Buckingham Palace. It’s a significant demonstration of status. If you live there, you don’t need to explain to people that you’re rich.”
When the house was marketed in 2012, Knight Frank made specific reference to the house having “majilis” or “private places where guests, usually male, are received and entertained.” Goodness knows, however, who was received in this airport sized room, but it certainly looks like a place that would have suited Saddam Hussein a treat.
The Numbers – The Fountains, 39 The Bishops Avenue, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, N2 0BA, United Kingdom
April 2021 – Offered for sale for £12 million ($16.6 million, €13.9 million or درهم61 million) with planning permission to demolish and replace through Knight Frank’s Hampstead office.
May 2015 – Offered for sale for £15 million ($20.8 million, €17.3 million or درهم76.2 million) through Knight Frank and Glentree on behalf of executors of persons unnamed.
Today, instead of lauding its gaudy past, Knight Frank share this mockup of an even larger mansion that could replace the existing 1926-built structure.Another mockup shows the proposed replacement from the rear.The current entrance hall is somewhere the 1980s soap opera ‘Dynasty’s’ Alexis Colby (played by Joan Collins) would certainly feel in ecstasy.The entrance is dominated by balconies and plenty of gold paint.Acres of marble were used throughout the existing structure.There’s plenty of filthy shagpile too.The dining room today retains the very same table that was there in 2015. It’s certainly got enough seats for even the likes of Mohammed bin Salman even to host an interrogation with David Cameron and Lex Greenskill.A corridor leading to the main “majali.”The “majali” has been cleared of furnishings, but retains a few tacky chandeliers and columns.The decrepit kitchen is an area that would not exactly appeal to Nigella Lawson or Delia Smith even.The master bedroom has fallen into decline and features a carpet dotted with brown stains and a filthy looking pair of beds.Another bedroom resembles something out of an OAP home.The master bathroom has retained its frankly hideous murals.The “majalis” from above with an overgrown ‘patio’ separating them.The garden is somewhat neglected, but not nearly in as bad a condition as those of some of the neighbouring mansions.Supposedly, these fountains are of historic value. At the moment, they’re just a tip.The existing floor plans.The proposed plans for the ground and basement levels include a new swimming pool, gym and cinema room.Plans for the first floor and a new second floor.Barratt Homes on steroids – The Fountains, 39 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 as it was in 2015.
Poundland muckspreader Karren Brady desperately seeks attention by bleating that men are “sexist” against her; Lady Brady brought up a story from years ago proving she has utterly nothing new to say
“The arrogant, self-interested baroness,” “gutter gossip hack” and “all-round nasty piece of work” are just some of the descriptions that have deservedly stuck to Karren Brady (AKA The Right Honourable The Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge in the City of Westminster CBE) over the years.
Also widely mocked for her links to “dildo floggers” and as “Mrs Blowjob or No Job,” Brady used her column in today’s The Sun on Sunday to yet again moan about people making “jibes” against her.
Referencing an alleged incident long ago with Sky News’ football anchorman Richard Keys, Brady bleated to readers:
He was later overheard talking about me when he thought the microphone was off.
He said: “See charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Yeah. Do me a favour, love.”
How condescending is that? Needless to say, I have never forgotten it. And I doubt I ever will.
In the case of this acid-tongued harpy, nothing other than stones and glass houses come to mind. Now, please, Karren, just do us all a favour and put a sock in it in 2021.
“At 23, I had skin as thick as a rhino… I don’t have any fears.”
“I dare to put my head above the parapet, to have a mind and a voice of my own and to plough my own furrow.”
“[I am now] one of the most highly sought-after motivational speakers in the world.”
More modest than the late Mother Theresa, one is simply left asking: “What on earth was it about the very wealthy woman Karren Brady that David Cameron saw fit to elevate her to the House of Lords?”
In 2016, Duncan Bannantyne described Karren Brady as a “nasty piece of trash” and “a complete coward” after she penned a column describing him as “hilariously repulsive.” Here, this mouthy muckspreader is pictured with her disgraced bestie Sir Philip Green.It was ludicrously announced that plain old Karren Rita Brady would be given a seat as a Conservative life peer on the House of Lords on the 8th August 2014. She had previously addressed the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on 30th September 2013.As this banner proves, football fans loathe her and on 6th June 2020, in yet another column in ‘The Sun on Sunday’ Karren Brady banged on about ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann before turning to sharing her bizarre belief that Big Macs are brilliant. If ever there’s been a columnist with a better ability to choose interlinking subjects, we’d argue that it was time the world was told.
Detached Georgian cottage in Wales goes on for sale for a sum 64% lower than a single parking space in a basement in Knightsbridge
In Knightsbridge right now, Harrods Estates are offering what they term a “spacious” car parking space for the astonishing sum of £225,000 ($302,000, €250,000 or درهم1.1 million) in spite of it having a column intruding into it.
The 8’2” by 15’7” underground space is situated within a building opposite Harrods’ Basil Street entrance and is only available for purchase by those living within a 1,300-foot radius of it. It is held on a lease with 83 years remaining and is subject to a service charge of £743.22 per annum ($1,000, €825 or درهم3,700 per annum).
Whilst this seems surprisingly cheap compared to the £375,000 ($484,000, €448,000 or درهم1.8 million) single space in nearby Ennismore Gardens we featured in February, elsewhere, for those looking to park a lot less money into a serious renovation project, agents Dai Lewis are about to auction what appears from the exterior to be a “quaint” Georgian cottage. Built as an estate manager’s cottage in the late 1700s, 4-bedroom Penbont, near Llandysul in Ceredigion, Wales stands in private gardens adjoining the River Teifi and National Trust woodland, but literally is collapsing inside.
To bid for Penbont in the forthcoming Auction House South Wales sale, click here. Bidding opens on 14th December at 12 noon and ends on the 16th December at 12:02pm. An opening bid of £79,000 ($106,000, €88,000 or درهم390,000) has been set.
The extremely punchily priced Basil Street car park space is entered via a ramp next to Harry’s Dolce Vita.The space is rather limited in that it is intruded upon by a bloody great pillar. You do, however, get a rather swish Rolls-Royce adjoining whatever you park there.Thankfully for the purchaser, Julian Assange has long left the adjoining apartment block.The cottage appears initially quaint in this image.The Welsh cottage literally is full of junk and rather lacking in first floor flooring.There are plenty of old sofas – though nobody other than Onslow from ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ would want to sit on them.The late Laura Ashley wouldn’t exactly rave about the curtains.The staircase is unbelievably intact, but a purchaser would be advised to do something about the wall coverings in the hallway.The kitchen has an original range, but somebody plainly nicked its doors.Those liking double height rooms might feel at home in this space.More recently it was boarded up and resembles a scene from ‘Midsomer Murders.’An outbuilding that isn’t much use to man nor ornament.Plainly, the current owner has a desire to stop gypsy caravans parking.The setting is indeed idyllic, but one needs to be careful of runaway drunk drivers on a Friday
Colonial Revival ‘Mini White House’ on an 8-acre plot in Mississippi for sale for just £299,000 or just £56 per square foot; the mini mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Lauded as a “southern beauty” and a “most extravagant expression of Colonial Revival architecture,” neoclassical 240 South Extension Street in Hazlehurst, Mississippi was built between 1906 and 1907 to the designs of the architects Barber & Kluttz of Knoxville, Tennessee. It does have a slight look of the White House and it certainly seems a bargain at just £299,000 compared to the £15 million Texan mansion we featured in March.
The 5,376 square foot house stands on a plot of 7.79 acres and includes 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It is described as having a “long history of family ownership” and is currently offered for sale through agents McIntosh & Associates LLC, Realtors.
Hazlehurst is situated 30 miles south of the Mississippi state capital, Jackson. Pulitzer Prize winning Crimes of the Heart playwright Beth Henley was born in the small city (population circa 4,000) and in the 1960s, there was much civil rights activity and “violence against blacks in this area” according to Wikipedia.
Pictured top: The grand front elevation of ‘The Robert L. Covington House’ could be mistaken for a miniature version of The White House.
The Numbers – The Robert L. Covington House, 240 South Extension Street, Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Mississippi, MS 39083, United States of America
A plaque was erected on the house in 1984 by the United States Department of the Interior stating that it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The South Portico of the White House is not hugely dissimilar from the front elevation of ‘The Robert Lowery Covington House.’Agents McIntosh & Associates LLC Realtors describe the entrance porch as “amazing.” Of the house, they state: “If only the walls could talk they would tell us of history of long ago. You will fall head over heels with this beautiful one of a kind historic home. You would actually feel as if you owned a piece of history.” It does have a slight feel of Twelve Oaks, the plantation home of the Wilkes family in ‘Gone with the Wind.’The entrance hall and staircase are notable for their grandeur.They open directly to several reception spaces and feature Doric columns.The current owner appears to have cleared out the majority of their furnishings.Another entertaining space.A sunroom with a view over the lawned gardens.The kitchen is certainly basic in its current configuration.One of four bedrooms.Another bedroom.There is one bathroom on the ground floor and two more on the first floor.The house has a number of original fireplaces in a variety of styles.The exterior is described by the agents as being a “most extravagant expression of Colonial Revival architecture.”The building impresses from its principal angle.It is less grand from the rear.But more commanding from the street.Looking from the porch into the neighbourhood.The property includes a total of 7.79 acres of gardens and grounds.Jackson, Mississippi is 30 miles to the north whilst New Orleans, Louisiana is 160 miles to the south.
This YouTube video tour of Hazlehurst, Mississippi gives an impression of the city and its citizens in 1947.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qchP6dk88dY
A video tour of the town (with its name incorrectly spelt as ‘Hazelhurst’). One comment left below it remarks: “Nicely kept, clean, tidy, old, open town” and adds: “I liked it, but it just looks so dead.”
Grand Grade I listed Shropshire mansion Kinlet Hall for sale after coronavirus forced the closure of its wedding venue and summer school
Striking Grade I listed Palladian mansion in Shropshire for sale.
Kinlet Hall is priced at £3.5 million or just £104 per square foot.
The house has until recently been a school and wedding venue, but this usage has been stopped because of the coronavirus lockdown.
A cricket ground included with the property was lauded as one of “Britain’s most scenic” by ‘The Telegraph’ whilst HRH Princess Anne has competed in horse trials in the parkland.
Coinciding with the partial relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown, the ‘trophy country house’ market seems to be revving up with the commencement of marketing of several historically significant residences.
Significantly cheaper at £3.5 million or £104 per square foot and in far better condition than 33,406 square foot Lilford Hall, the 33,609 square foot Grade I listed Kinlet Hall comes with less land – 102 acres as opposed to 321 acres. It is further from London, which may limit its appeal to wealthy city sorts, but given it has been used as both a school and wedding venue until lockdown, it is in actual “working condition” as opposed to the perilously falling down state that Lilford is sadly currently in. That is, indeed, a major plus.
Featuring a seven-bayed central block of three storeys plus cellars, the hall is flanked by two two-storey wings. Presently configured to provide 5 reception rooms and 15 bedrooms, there are classrooms, gyms and flats also. Surprisingly, unlike with many residential to school conversions of mansions in the 1940s where ugly modern extensions were distastefully tacked on, damage to the integrity of the original structure has been minimal.
In addition, to a 5-bedroom detached house named ‘The Old House’ and a range of farm buildings within the grounds, there is a cricket pavilion and a cricket pitch. The Telegraph named its runner-up for “Britain’s most scenic cricket ground” in 2008 and interestingly amongst the many established plant and tree species in the grounds is a Wellingtonia that allegedly came as a seed in a matchbox from the Americas.
Of Kinlet Hall, Tony Morris-Eyton of Savills comments: “[This is] an exquisitely beautiful Palladian country house, formerly a prep school, awaiting its next chapter with enormous potential as either a private home or [for] other uses.”
The village of Kinlet is situated on the northern edge of the Wyre Forest about 18 miles from Telford and 23 miles from Birmingham.
Design Maestros – Villa Pisani, Montagnana (top left) by Andrea Palladio (lower centre) inspired both Francis Smith of Warwick (lower left) in his designs for Kinlet Hall and William Buckland (lower right) in his creation of the Hammond-Harwood House (top right).
The Names & Numbers – Kinlet Hall, Kinlet, Bewdley, Shropshire, DY12 3AY, United Kingdom
June 2020 – Put up for sale for £3.5 million ($4.4 million, €3.9 million or درهم16.3 million) through agents Savills. Orchard Lodge, a 4-bedroom cottage with an acre of paddock, is available by separate negotiation.
July 2017 – Moffats School closes for the final time citing financial pressures. Of the decision, school chairman Julian Engleheart told the Shropshire Star: “We have always been a small school by choice, maintaining the family ethos of our founders. However, the current financial climate is putting enormous pressure on small schools and we have decided that it would be unwise to commit to a new year this September. However, we will continue to run educational activities in our lovely house and grounds, which provide such a wonderful environment for learning.”
1946 – Moffats School (founded in 1934 by the children’s writer Natalie Engleheart in a Hertfordshire house called Moffats) is relocated to Kinlet Hall.
1939 – 1945 – The house was temporarily home to a school for the blind; the parkland became a camp for the US army as part of their preparations for the Normandy Landings.
1827 – Ballroom added to the designs of Sir Jeffrey Wyattville (1766 – 1840) trained architect Edward Haycock (1790 – 1870) for William Baldwyn Childe. He died three years before it was completed and “this is the only significant part of the house not dating from 1729.”
1727 – 1729 – Kinlet Hall is “built in a classic early Georgian style with the symmetry and grand elevations synonymous with [the English master-builder and architect] Francis Smith of Warwick (1672 – 1738)” for Tory politician William Lacon Childe (1700 – 1757) close to the site of an older Tudor manor house.
Other notable works by Smith and his family include Calke Abbey, Fawsley Hall, Kirtlington House, Ombersley Court and Stoneleigh Abbey. His design was said to be inspired by Andrea Palladio’s (1508 – 1580) Villa Pisani at Montagnana – which also reportedly was the influence for the ‘Anglo-Palladian’ Hammond-Harwood House by the English architect William Buckland (1734 – 1774) in Annapolois, Maryland, USA.
During construction, the old village was removed to “improve” the setting. Only the original church, St. John the Baptist, which contains monuments dating to the 1580s, was left as a “remnant.” It was restored subsequently in 1892.
Dominic Cummings mouthpiece Dan Wootton yet again shows himself to be a bit of a berk in attacking both ‘Tatler’ and Sir Keir Starmer in one hit in his column in ‘The Sun’
Dan Wootton has previously been branded a “deeply unpleasant” sort and today he yet again showed his true credentials in attacking two completely unrelated entities, Tatler and Sir Keir Starmer, in his diabolically dire column in The Sun.
Executive editor of the banned-in-Liverpool ‘paper’ Wootton – a New Zealander known for his “less than stellar career” according to Zelo Street – pathetically branded “dripping-with-bile” Tatler a “repulsive… bible for the elite… that makes my skin crawl” simply because it had dared to criticise the Duchess of Cambridge. He raged: “Tatler should be shunned because of the vile way it perpetuates a class system that does so much damage to society. Not Quite Our Magazine, Darling.”
Dan Wootton slammed the “lack of class from snobs at Tatler” on Friday in his “big exclusives, bold opinion” column.
Turning to Sir Keir Starmer, whom thus far has shown himself as quite the stellar opposite of Jeremy Corbyn, self-declared “working-class lad” Wootton’s analysis was clear: “The same old politics from the same old Labour… Up to its old tricks.”
On Dominic Cummings (who’d probably have preferred even Katie Hopkins as a defender): “Make no mistake, the establishment is out to get Dominic Cummings… I despair.”
Rent-a-gob stand-in for Rod Liddle at ‘The Sun’ Olivia Utley shows herself to be nothing but a big-mouthed berk in brainlessly banging on about Brexit; she should eff off!
“Chuffed to be filling in for Rod Liddle today,” 27-year-old Olivia Utley is exactly the kind of person you’d expect to big herself up and this week was no exception for this motormouthed maniac.
Utley, a somewhat tepid try-hard attempt at being Katie Hopkins yet a fan of David Cameron strangely also, on Friday, was given space to spout her views in The Sun. In a column that’d make even Karren Brady look rational titled: “It’ll do our spoiled young Remainers good to remain in Britain for the summer holidays,” this “gleefully” childlike upstart not only attacked the lovely Fiona Bruce but also suggested “it would have been easier to have come out as a paedophile than a Brexiteer.” She’d plainly been drinking vinegar as she penned this particularly puerile drivel.
Here, in ramblings rooted in ridiculousness, Tom Utley of the Daily Mail’s “rent-a-reactionary” niece mocked other millenials and stupidly suggested they believed “the Lake District was a fictional place.” She attempted to justify proclaiming there being a “darker side” to young people “knowing nothing about Britain” and that now their “ignorance could finally be shattered.”
Concluding on the subject of how she believes young people will forget Europe in favour of their country of birth, Utley patronisingly argued: “Reconnected to their roots at last, they might just begin to feel the first stirrings of patriotism running through their British veins.” We’d suggest otherwise: They’re more likely to just tell this moron to eff off!
On Thursday, Olivia Utley was given a “guest column” in ‘The Sun’ in place of Rod Liddle. She was delighted to brag about it on Twitter.What a hypocrite – In 2019, so-called journalist Olivia Utley bragged about going on holiday to France; in 2020, she mocked others for wanting a holiday abroad. Shame on her.
‘The Steeple Times’ suggests that in the wake of the latest drivel she spouted in ‘The Sun on Sunday’ well-known washed-up wench and all-round “nasty piece of work” Karren Brady belongs in the funny farm
Aside from illustrating her rank on the Mensa roster in revealing something nobody else on the entire planet knew in stating: “What a month it’s been for Boris Johnson,” Lady Brady also announced: “I am as keen as the next person to regain my freedom.” She then, pass the sick bucket urgently please, added: “At present, in fact, I am mainly wearing pyjamas all day as well as in bed.” As constellation, at a time when we are all coping with the COVID-19 lockdown, one can at least be thankful that she didn’t go further and follow Baroness Mone and go on about her bra choices or dip into the territory of Ferne McCann and try and flog some soiled knickers.
Disgracefully ennobled by David Cameron for utterly no good reason, “muckspreader” Lady Brady (AKA ‘Baroness Bozo’ and #LazyBrady) went on to show how out of touch she is with the ordinary populous. In a segment ever-so enthusiastically titled: “PREGNANT PAUSE FOR A NATION” (in caps for extra-special emphasis), this dimwitted oddity bizarrely offered “huge congratulations” to an American model of Dutch-Palestinian descent named Gigi Hadid and an English singer of Pakistani-Irish descent named Zayn Malik. We’re no doubt lightyears away from fathoming the reasoning as to why the ever-so-vital “pregnant pause” and the ever-so “huge congratulations” are especially required for Hadid and Malik, but, hey ho, we are dealing with Karren Brady – Lord Sugar’s token bit of sideline smut from the graveyard for self-declared “genuine celebrities” that is The Apprentice.
Aside from not explaining exactly which “nation” exactly she was referencing (she probably doesn’t actually know what a nation is herself, poor love), former “dildo merchant” turned “faithful companion of Jesus” Lady Brady helpfully then declared: “They are expecting a baby… which just proves that life goes on. What a beautiful baby they will have. It’s great to have some good news amid the gloom.” Let’s all join her and praise the Lord.
Of this wannabe prophet, one reader previously observed: “All business transactions associated with Lady Brady end in Richard Branson-esque failure” and now we’ll go further: “All falling for the supposed wise words of the pyjama-clad Lady Brady henceforth may find themselves joining her in the funny farm.” It is now time to lock this hapless harridan in a padded cell and throw away the key.
Jack Monroe’s analysis of Katie Hopkins’s supposed “sacking” by the ‘Mail Online’ illustrates just one thing: The pair are actually virtually the same and simply ‘Sisters in Shock’
Yesterday, in a column for The Guardian, the self-opinionated, self-serving know-all Jack Monroe (sometimes a woman, sometimes ‘Gender X’ and sometimes no gender at all) shared her views about her equally bombastic adversary, Katie Hopkins, leaving the Mail Online in the wake of the paper having to pay libel damages to a school teacher named Jackie Teale.
In her words, Monroe, in spite of claiming “[Hopkins’s] sacking is nothing to celebrate” and admitting “I have been nasty on the Internet,” provides illustration yet again of her true character. Here, in suggesting Hopkins is “deemed too much” for even Mail Online readers and claiming she, herself, “take[s] responsibility for [her] words, and try to be better,” Monroe just illustrates that there two women are exactly the same and motivated by one thing only – the next pay cheque for their outrageous words.
#GetARoomGirls
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Scandal prone Tory activist turned Jared Kushner employed journalist Andre Walker claims Theresa May is fearful of electoral disaster due to MPs from her party likely being jailed
In an opinion piece, Andre Walker – currently a columnist for Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s The New York Observer and formerly part of the team that established the far-right Breitbart London news network – referenced a widely reported story about thirty senior Conservatives facing prosecution for electoral fraud but went far further than most in adding: “In all likelihood, there will be MPs standing for re-election on 8th June who are also facing jail”.
Referencing the Conservative Party’s controversial 2015 election buses that toured Britain under the banner the ‘Road Trip’ campaigning group, Walker pointedly remarked:
“It is illegal to make a mistake – accidental or otherwise. In any case, failure to remember that you had five buses traveling to every key area of the country stretches credibility”.
Curiously, in his article, the hard Brexiteer made no reference to his own connections to that scandal and nor did he make mention of his long-term friend and founder of ‘Road Trip’, Mark Clarke – a disgraced individual who has since been expelled from the Conservative Party and banished for life.
In 2010, The Telegraph revealed Walker – a larger-than-life figure with 59,000 followers on Twitter – was forced to resign as political aide after been caught plotting to smear a deputy council leader in Windsor in a clip posted on YouTube. Subsequently, in 2016, in an interview for the BBC’s Sunday Politics, Walker claimed to have been the boyfriend of Elliott Johnson, an activist who committed suicide in 2015, leaving a note suggesting he’d been “bullied by Mark Clarke and betrayed by Andre Walker”.
