Belgravia mews house with garaging for five cars for sale for equivalent of £1,442 per week
A two-storey mews house behind The Lanesborough Hotel in Belgravia has gone on sale for what initially seems like a bargain price of just £1.5 million ($2 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.2 million).
The catch? The 1,391 square foot property in Wilton Row – which comes with a 40-foot long garage with space for up to five cars – is offered on a new 20-year lease that comes without the ability to extend or acquire the freehold.
Effectively priced at the equivalent of rent of £75,000 per year ($99,000, €83,000 or درهم362,000 per year), the unlisted building also includes a reception room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Belgravia apartment for sale for £27.5 million in spite of being a 1980s timewarp; the Sloaney home forms part of a building at one-time home the residence of one half of Gilbert and Sullivan
A penthouse on the “favoured northern side” of Belgravia’s Eaton Square is on sale for £27.5 million ($36.6 million, €31 million or درهم134.5 million) in spite of not been refurbished or updated since the 1980s.
Part of a building that was the London home of Sir William Gilbert (1836 – 1911) – one half of the Victorian theatrical partnership Gilbert and Sullivan – from 1907 until his death, 90 Eaton Square now spans four buildings and is some 117-foot wide. Its penthouse sits on the fourth floor and extends to some 5,570 square foot.
Featuring 3 reception rooms, a study, 5 bedroom suites, a wine cellar, a terrace and 2 balconies, the vast property is described as having “unusually large picture windows at the front to take advantage of the superior southerly aspect, and a low front parapet wall, allowing superb views of the expansive Eaton Square communal gardens.” Images shown in a sales brochure for it show not only some rather serious works of modern art, but also 1980s ‘Sloane Ranger essentials’ including shagpile rugs, marble bathrooms and chrome-steel cantilever dining chairs.
Previously offered for £30 million ($39.9 million, €33.8 million or درهم146.6 million) by agents Savills, the penthouse at 90 Eaton Square is now currently being marketed by Strutt & Parker. It comes with a surprisingly long lease that expires in 2256.
Two bedroom flat in Bayswater for sale for £12 million; it does come with two parking spaces and décor that harks back to the era of Laura Ashley
A leasehold flat in Hyde Park Gardens, London, W2 has gone on sale for the staggering sum of £12 million ($15.9 million, €13.5 million or درهم58.6 million) in spite of having just two bedrooms.
Admittedly, however, the first floor property offered by agents Aylesford is anything but ordinary. It extends to some 3,502 square foot across two period buildings and includes three vast reception rooms with ceiling heights of in excess of 13-feet.
Part of a building used as an auxiliary hospital for officers between 1916 and 1919, the flat also has two balconies, two off-street parking spaces and enjoys views across Hyde Park.
Tower house on Isle of Man that was home to the Romantic artist John Martin for sale for £3.95 million
Described as “the most sublime and extraordinary pictures in the world” by critic Simon Wilson and “the most popular painter of his day” by fellow artist Sir Thomas Lawrence, English Romantic painter John Martin (1789 – 1854) is renowned to this day for fantastic compositions and such works as The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Destruction of Tyre and The Plains of Heaven. He was born in Haydon Bridge, Northumberland and died in the Isle of Man and now a castellated tower house there, where he lived from 1851 to 1853, is for sale for £3.95 million ($5.32 million, €4.50 million or درهم19.56 million).
A portrait of John Martin and his own painting “The Plains of Heaven”The view out to sea from the castellated roof terrace of Harold Tower
Of the Gothic style and dating to circa 1833, Harold Tower in Douglas was allegedly named after either Harold Harefoot (Harold I, King of England from 1035 to 1040) or Harold Godwinson (Harold II, King of England in 1066). It was constructed in a hexagonal shape, was described as a “lately erected villa” in 1856 and used as a hotel during the Second World War.
Set within 3 acres of formal gardens, Harold Tower was renovated between 2009 and 2012. It is laid out over 5 levels and includes 3 reception rooms, a cinema, a wine cellar, 3 bedrooms suites with truly lavish bathrooms and an octagonal office with a roof terrace with sea views above. In addition, a 3 bedroom guest house and a 2 bedroom guest cottage are located within the grounds along with an outdoor swimming pool.
Knightsbridge townhouse for sale for sum 11% lower than it sold for in 2011; it comes with a rather large hole in the garden that has been described as “almost as deep as the Führerbunker”
To the poet and wit Henry Luttrell (1765 – 1861) “eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets” was his idea of heaven. Now, a very wealthy buyer has the opportunity to acquire what some might consider the very opposite of such with the sale of his former home – complete with a 4-storey hole in its garden – in Knightsbridge.
Empty for many years and the subject of numerous critical articles about its dereliction in such titles as the Mirror and Daily Mail, Grade II listed 31 Brompton Square is on the market for £3 million less than it sold for in 2011. It was previously reportedly owned by the industrialist Lord Tanlaw and was also in the possession of the High Commission of Malaysia at some point.
Fraudster Achilleas Kallakis was undoubtedly the most controversial owner of the buildingPhilanthropists Dora and Mary de Beer (pictured with Esmond de Beer) were certainly more civilised residentsBaron Tanlaw of Tanlawhill reportedly owned the house for a period also
Aside from being home to the philanthropist sisters Dora and Mary de Beer (owners of the house between 1934 and 1981) and the Conservative Party politician the Hon. Michael Astor in addition, most controversially the property was bought by the now jailed businessman Achilleas Kallakis in the mid 2000s.
Kallakis – who in spite of demanding he be called ‘His Excellency’ and ‘The Don’ was actually simply “Britain’s biggest mortgage fraudster” – began work on a scheme to create what he termed a “pleasure palace” at 31 Brompton Square in 2005. He employed contractors to dig four levels down beneath what had been a pretty garden and commenced both authorised and unauthorised works to create what could still ultimately become a 22,000 square foot, 8-floor “trophy home.”
Construction stopped in 2008 after Kallakis’ arrest and in 2011, 31 Brompton Square was sold for £8 million more than sought to a Virgin Islands based company by receivers acting for Barclays Wealth. Said by locals to actually be owned at that time by a Dubai based businessman named Jonathan Hart, further planning schemes were submitted in October 2016 and now agents Savills seek £25 million for the unfinished building.
Of the sale, one near neighbour told The Steeple Times:
“This bastard of a basement has blighted this area of Knightsbridge for far too long.”
“We have feared subsidence might cause the hole to cave in since 2005 and now hope a new owner will rectify the mess left by the conman Kallakis. We simply want to be able to live out our years in peace and would like a nice, quiet family rather than a brash billionaire be the purchasers.”
September 2017 – For sale for £25 million ($33.9 million, €28.4 million or درهم125 million).
June 2016 – Predicted to be worth £50 million ($67.8 million, €56.9 million or درهم249 million) if iceberg extension were to be completed.
March 2011 – Sold for £28 million ($38 million, €31.9 million or درهم139.5 million) after a bidding war on an asking price of £20 million ($27.1 million, €22.7 million or درهم99.6 million).
An aerial view of the giant hole behind 31 Brompton SquareA closer view of the dormant siteThe front elevation of 31 Brompton SquareA proposed floor plan for the buildingA CGI image of a proposed design for a reception room within the existing buildingA CGI image of a proposed design for a reception space in the proposed extension of the houseA CGI image of a proposed design for a reception space backing onto the gardenA CGI image of a proposed design for a swimming pool within the extensionA CGI image of the proposed gardenAnother view of the spaceA drawing of the proposed redevelopment
Vast Georgian village house in Oxfordshire for sale for £4.25 million
A Grade II* listed, mid-18th century village house in Adderbury, Oxfordshire has just gone on sale for £4.25 million ($5.74 million, €4.79 million or درهم21.10 million) after fifty years in the same family.
Providing a total of 11,290 square foot of accommodation and including 5 reception rooms, a 38-foot long kitchen, 4 cellar rooms, 10 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms, Cross Hill House is built of Horton stone and has a Welsh slate roof. It is described as being of “the mid-Georgian style” and as “a big house” by Country Life’s Penny Churchill.
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 houseAs 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).
Kitsch San Francisco mansion turned private museum that houses everything from Hitler memorabilia to a portrait turned down by Prince Philip for sale for £9.5 million
The collection of a former advertising executive turned San Francisco based bon viveur named Robert C. Pritikin – better known as ‘Bob’ to his friends – includes everything from Hitler’s Swastika armband and his personal world globe (supposedly acquired by American soldiers at the end of the Second World War) to a portrait of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh of which the royal once proclaimed: “I bloody well wouldn’t hang it on the walls of Buckingham Palace.”
Pritikin houses these items – and others including a replica electric chair, a mural featuring the cult leader Jim Jones, an exact replica of Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ and an original J. M. W. Turner painting – in a totally eccentric neo-classical mansion in the Glen Park area of the city. He built the property in 1987 and though it provides 9,966 square foot of accommodation it is primarily designed as an entertaining space and museum rather than a conventional family home.
Bob Pritikin with the portrait Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh so loathedThe mansion-cum-museum Pritikin built in 1987 for his collection is now for saleArtworks in the building include a mock electric chairThere also many murals inside and outside of Chenery House
Now offered for sale for £9.5 million ($12.5 million, €10.4 million or درهم45.9 million) by the equally flamboyant realtor Joel Goodrich, Chenery House – or plain old 47 Chenery Street – has hosted guests including Liberace and Mickey Rooney. The building is dominated by a top floor swimming pool with glass retractable roof, a vast ‘showroom’ with adjoining display rooms but also comes with 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. There is a 4-car carport, a garden cottage and a three unit building with two 2 bedroom units and one 1 bedroom unit.
Hidden from the street at its entrance and adjoining the Fairmount Elementary School on another, Chenery House stands on a 1 acre plot crammed to the brim with art pieces, murals and statues. It was offered by Pritikin to the City of San Francisco as an official mayoral residence in 2004 but after they declined he has since rented it for weddings and events.
In 2014, of living there, Pritikin remarked: “It’s a fun place to live. I would build the exact same house if I had to do it again, and in the unlikely event that I kick the bucket I intend to have my ashes buried here.” Though that will now unlikely happen, this true eccentric’s spirit will no doubt live on in spite of whoever eventually purchases what has to be one of America’s most whacky compounds.
Clubbable sorts will love the opportunity to live like Nigella Lawson above Little House Mayfair
When the flatform trainer loving cook Nigella Lawson first split up with Charles ‘The Throttler’ Saatchi back in 2013, she took up residence in an apartment above the Little House private members’ club in Mayfair’s Queen Street.
Nigella Lawson arriving at her apartment at Little House Mayfair in 2013
Now, one of the club’s four apartments has recently become available to rent at price of £6,600 per week ($8,600, €7,200 or درهم31,800 per week) or £28,600 per month ($37,500, €31,100 or درهم137,600 per month). Featuring two bedroom suites and a third ‘bunk room’ that could be converted to provide a gym, the second floor space on offer also has a double aspect reception room, is accessed by lift and comes with full club access.
Savills have the listing and the website for the apartment complex and club – which was previously used as a bank – notes it comes with a “fully stocked kitchen or we’ll do it for you.” No wonder Nigella felt at home.
Long Island mansion with links to ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Big Short’ for sale for £13.1 million (or 152% more than it sold for in 2011)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) set his ‘Roaring Twenties’ classic The Great Gatsby in the fictional locations of East Egg and West Egg on Long Island and now one of the homes that inspired him is available for sale.
Owned by Cornwall Capital founder James Mai – a man whose firm ironically made over 80 times its capital by buying credit default swaps on CDOs prior to the 2008 financial crisis – and his wife Chiara since 2011, 235 Middle Neck Road at Sands Point on Long Island’s Gold Coast was built in 1926 and home to the Rumsey-Harriman railroad dynasty from 1929.
Fitzgerald is said to have spent time at the residence learning about “the lifestyle of the moneyed aristocracy of Old Westport, Long Island, and their involvement in the movement of eugenics” from the Rumseys and ironically, James Mai, is also representative of a clash between ‘old’ and ‘new’ money. In 2008, he and his partner are said to have been the ones “screaming about [the coming crash] as loud as they could, but everyone turned a deaf ear.” The character Jamie Shipley, played by Finn Wittrock in the 2015 film The Big Short, is loosely based upon him.
Current owners Chiara and James Mai are said to have spent vast sums on the renovation of the estate
Featuring 11,955 square foot of renovated accommodation that includes formal and informal entertaining spaces, 13 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. There is also a 6-car garage with a 3-bedroom caretaker’s cottage, a 4-bedroom beachside cottage and a boat house.
Outside, on a plot of some 5.3 acres, there is a 391-foot private beach, a tennis court and in spite of its seeming isolation, the property is situated just 29 miles from Downtown Manhattan and 25 minutes by boat.
235 Middle Neck Road is listed by Nava Mitnick of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International. In December 2016, of it, she commented: “Obviously, it’s so imposing – you drive down and see the sweeping views. But when we entered the house, I described it as a ‘glorified cottage’, because it’s so homey.”
