Tag: purchase

Murky Maxwell’s Property & PR Projects
As her brother takes to the airwaves to PR her on Radio 4, Ghislaine Maxwell’s sale of her “showgirl-hooker-esque” London townhouse for an astonishing sum 44% lower than it was marketed at is branded a “shenanigan”

This morning, Ian Maxwell was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Talking extensively and featured in several segments, the brother of Ghislaine Maxwell went into PR overdrive and attempted to spin that his sister deserved bail. He even went as far to insist of a woman whom managed to disappear for nearly a year: “She is no longer a flight risk… This is not somebody who’s seeking to flee.”

Going further, the businessman banged on about the “grotesque” conditions within the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and bleated about his sinister sister’s hair falling out and her being served “brown water.”

Mr Maxwell claimed that he “assumes” the Duke of York – who allegedly sexually abused Virginia Roberts (now married and named Virginia Giuffre) in a bathroom at his sister’s Kinnerton Street mews house on 10^th March 2001 – still considers Jeffrey Epstein’s henchwoman “as a friend” and moaned: “The water that is provided through the prison is brown and the food that she’s given is very highly microwaved and basically inedible.”

Whilst admitting he “wished she’d never met the man [Jeffrey Epstein], obviously,” Mr Maxwell attempted to slam the fact the alleged victims of his sister have not been named, but meanwhile elsewhere The Steeple Times can today reveal that the financial shenanigans surrounding the sale of ‘Grubby Ghislaine’s’ London home are starting to look increasingly curious.

Last night, a leading property expert often quoted by the BBC who did not wish to be named, told us:

“Estate agents Aylesford were instructed to sell 44 Kinnerton Street in September 2020. They sought £2.6 million for the house and when it failed to sell, they later reduced the price to £2.1 million.”

“It’s the kind of house that could have featured in Smiley’s People, in fact it’s the kind of house where the showgirl-hooker Mandy Rice-Davies could have cavorted with John Profumo.”

Going further, Yeoman’s Row, Knightsbridge based agent Matthew Kaye of Kaye & Carey added: “Knowing the street as I do, 44 is one of the smaller houses which I assume it to be a little over 1,000 square foot in size. Depending on the condition, I estimate the freehold value to be circa £1.8 million to £2 million.”

Given that the Maxwells tried and failed to raise finance on the property – quite possibly due to its association with an incarcerated jailbird alleged sexual offender – in December 2020 and given last week that the mucky madam’s lawyers announced a sale on the property was pending at a sum of just £1.45 million, another agent remarked:

“This sum seems incredibly low and it sounds to me like the notorious Maxwell family are upto financial shenanigans yet again. This asset is most likely being moved to an entity they themselves have connections with rather than ‘sold’ to someone unconnected.”

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” he concluded.

The Names & Numbers – 44 Kinnerton Street (AKA ‘Mucky Madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s Bathtub Bonk Pad’), Belgravia, London, SW1X 8ES, United Kingdom
- March 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer offered cash from the “pending sale of her £1.45 million ($2 million, €1.68 million or درهم37 million)” home as part of a package when they sought bail for the mucky madam for a third time. This sum is 44% lower than the September 2020 asking price and 400% higher than the January 1997 purchase price.
- March 2021 – Knightsbridge estate agent Matthew Kaye of Kaye & Carey tells The Steeple Times: “Knowing the street as I do, 44 is one of the smaller houses which I assume it to be a little over 1,000 square foot in size. Depending on the condition, I estimate the freehold value to be circa £1.8 million to £2 million ($2.5 million to $2.8 million, €2.1 million to €2.3 million or درهم9.2 million to درهم10.2 million).”
- December 2020 – Members of the Maxwell family attempted to raise finance on the property but are not successful.
- September 2020 – Estate agents Aylesford list 44 Kinnerton Street for sale for £2.6 million ($3.6 million, €3 million or درهم3 million) on a freehold basis, a sum 797% than the January 1997 purchase price. They subsequently later reduce the asking price to £2.1 million ($2.9 million, €2.5 million or درهم10.7 million) according to a leading property expert.
- August 2019 – According to Insider, a woman with “long hair [who] appeared to be in her 60s” was seen entering the property. She “denied that the socialite owns or lived in the house, claiming instead that the elusive socialite lived elsewhere down the street.”
- 10^th March 2001 – Prince Andrew allegedly had sexual relations with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts in a bathroom in the property. He continues to deny this occurred whilst claiming that a photograph of himself with Miss Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell on the first floor of building is a fake also.
- 22^nd January 1997 – Ghislaine Maxwell paid £290,000 ($401,000, €337,000 or درهم5 million) for the three-storey leasehold mews house. It is situated at the heart of the Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor Estate.
Murky Maxwell’s Property & PR Projects 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell’s decision to go on record on Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme this morning on behalf of his mucky madam sister, Ghislaine, appeared remarkable. It was most likely orchestrated with the help of their PR peddler, Brian Basham.

Murky Maxwell’s Property & PR Projects 2021 – Of the now infamous photograph of Prince Andrew – which he continues claims to be fake, but which has never been proven to be such – on the landing of the property with Virginia Roberts on 10th March 2001 with Ghislaine Maxwell to the rear, Ian Maxwell remarked: “I recognise the setting.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGnUxiOADzY&feature=emb_logo
March 10, 2021
Houses of Horror SOLD
Houses of Horror SOLD – As New York residence of croaked paedo Jeffrey Epstein goes into contract for 192% less than was asked for it, London home of mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell supposedly nears sale for 400% more than she paid for it also

Plainly two sets of buyers in London and New York are prepared to set aside the horrors that went on in the respective residences of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein given both are now “pending sale.”

In London’s ritzy Belgravia, the late ‘Bouncing Czech’ Robert Maxwell’s daughter’s somewhat tired, red and white painted mews house opposite Kevin Moran’s Nag’s Head pub is about to exchange contracts for circa £1.45 million, her lawyers announced this week. Miss Maxwell paid £290,000 for the property in 1997.

Meanwhile, in New York’s Lenox Hill, the 28,000 square foot, 7-floor pad where Jeffrey Epstein hosted grubby gatherings with the likes of the Duke of York and Woody Allen has gone into contract for “roughly” £36 million. Mr Epstein allegedly ‘bought’ the mansion for £14.5 million from his billionaire chum Leslie Wexner in 1998, though some claim the transfer to have been somewhat more of a gift than a purchase.

Whilst some real estate brokers claimed some “clients were absolutely appalled at the idea of buying a house owned by Epstein” – with one reporting: “I had clients hang up on me, angry that I even suggested it” – another concluded: “The deal is great for New York. It’s a low number, but that could be because of Covid and not Epstein. The buyer is a savvy person who got a good deal and will resell.” Going further, another broker concluded: “They could get it blessed by a rabbi and a priest.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Change.org, crusading author, sex abuse survivor and advocate Kirby Sommers’ petition seeking “no bail for Ghislaine Maxwell” reached 944 signatures this morning. Help it pass 1,000 and achieve a chance of success with Judge Alison J. Nathan by clicking here.

Houses of Horror SOLD – Ghislaine Maxwell leans on a doorway on the landing of her Kinnerton Street mews house as ‘Randy Andy’ the Duke of York poses next to the bannister with his chubby, grubby fingers around the waist of the then Virgina Roberts (now married and known as Virginia Giuffre) on 10th March 2001.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGnUxiOADzY

The Names & Numbers – 44 Kinnerton Street (AKA ‘Mucky Madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s Bathtub Bonk Pad’), Belgravia, London, SW1X 8ES, United Kingdom
- March 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer offered cash from the “pending sale of her £1.45 million ($2 million, €1.68 million or درهم37 million)” home as part of a package when they sought bail for the mucky madam for a third time.
- December 2020 – Members of the Maxwell family attempted to raise finance on the property but are not successful.
- August 2019 – According to Insider, a woman with “long hair [who] appeared to be in her 60s” was seen entering the property. She “denied that the socialite owns or lived in the house, claiming instead that the elusive socialite lived elsewhere down the street.”
- 10^th March 2001 – Prince Andrew allegedly had sexual relations with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts in a bathroom in the property. He continues to deny this occurred whilst claiming that a photograph of himself with Miss Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell on the first floor of building is a fake also.
- 22^nd January 1997 – Ghislaine Maxwell paid £290,000 ($401,000, €337,000 or درهم5 million) for the three-storey leasehold mews house. It is situated at the heart of the Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor Estate.
Houses of Horror SOLD – Top: Jeffrey Epstein pictured on the telephone in his decidedly kitsch ‘Bet Lynch-esque’ mansion on date unknown. Bottom: Prince Andrew pictured at the door of the residence waving as two young ladies and Jeffrey Epstein depart in December 2010.

The Names & Numbers – Herbert Straus House (AKA ‘Jeffrey Epstein’s Paedo Palace’), 9 East 71^st Street, Lenox Hill, New York, NY 10021, United States of America
- March 2021 – “In contract to sell for roughly £36 million ($50 million, €42 million or درهم184 million)” according to The Times, a sum 192% lower than the 2020 asking price.
- February 2021 – Price reduced to £47 million ($65 million, €55 million or درهم239 million).
- September 2020 – Placed for sale for £69 million ($88 million, €74 million or درهم351 million) through the Modlin Group as the ‘Herbert N. Strauss Mansion’ in order to attempt to disassociate it from Jeffrey Esptein.
- August 2019 – Valued in Epstein’s will at £40 million ($56 million, €47 million or درهم206 million)
- 1998 – “Sold” to Jeffrey Epstein for £14.5 million ($20 million, €16.8 million or درهم5 million), according to the New York Post, by his associate Leslie Wexner.
Houses of Horror SOLD 2021 – If it hadn’t been owned by Jeffrey Epstein, the ‘Herbert Straus House’ would not have acquired the nickname ‘Paedo Palace.’ The 40-room mansion, with interiors by Albert Pinto, would otherwise have been quite desirable and likely would have sold for a much higher sum.

Houses of Horror SOLD 2021 – Prior to sale, Jeffrey Epstein’s initials were quite sensibly removed from the main entrance.

Houses of Horror SOLD 2021 – Images of the house shared by realtors showed the best of the property. They did not include the grubby rooms – complete with spy holes – where Epstein and Maxwell were able to secretly watch sexual abuse by famous people they supposedly wished to blackmail.
March 6, 2021
The Filthy Money of Maxwell (and Borgerson and Epstein)

As two associates of Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew get snared, the money of Ghislaine Maxwell (and her supposed “boss”) starts to be clawed back for victims

Just as the monstrous molesting model boss Jean-Luc Brunel (famed for supposedly supplying Jeffrey Epstein with two 8-year-old girls as a birthday gift) and the dirty designer Peter Nygard (best known for having an “orgy pit” on his private jet and holidaying with ‘Randy Andy’ and his family) deservedly got themselves arrested this week, the shit also hit the fan of the finances of Ghislaine Maxwell and the estate of her late paedophile “boss.”

Whilst many justifiably believe Maxwell was actually the mistress of the money rather than the ex-school teacher Epstein himself – given some £500 million of her father’s ill-gotten gains vanished prior to her move to New York in the wake of him “falling” off the back of his yacht – the ability of Scott Borgerson, the 58-year-old mucky madam’s 44-year-old husband, to find the £23 million of wonga he’s using to try to get her bail should also be examined. “Where is this cash coming from?” should be the question the authorities should be shouting out.

Elsewhere, in the wake of Artnet News revealing that “prosecutors are issuing subpoenas to Sotheby’s and Christie’s” demanding they “turn over documents relating to Epstein’s art purchases,” the Mirror exclusively revealed this morning that the first two “victims” of the croaked criminal “have now agreed [thus far undisclosed] cash settlements with the billionaire financier’s estate.”

It is now time that justice was done for all who’ve suffered at the hands of this elite excrement and it is especially time that non-sweating, horse allergic Prince Andrew came forward and told the truth to the FBI about what he really knows. Of course, sadly, he won’t.

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Author Kirby Sommers shared the supposed first photograph of Ghislaine Maxwell with her now husband Scott Borgerson on her Twitter feed yesterday, whilst the ’New York Post’ reported that it was taken in 2013 at the Arctic Circle assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland in October 2013. Speakers at the event included Hillary Clinton and Google chairman Eric Schmidt.

Nobody has ever managed to convincingly managed to explain where Jeffrey Epstein’s billions came from. Nobody has ever convincingly explained where his ex-lover Ghislaine Maxwell’s deceased daddy’s missing millions went either.

December 18, 2020
Wally of the Week – Mike Alan

“International magician” Mike Alan goes mental with a cucumber after alleging a “razor sharp” M&S shelf “savaged” his coat and left him “looking like a snowman”

At a time when 13,000 families are worrying about ending up in penury thanks to retail rotter ‘Sir Shifty’ Philip Green’s empire collapsing, there’s one very, very angry man with bigger issues to fry with the sinking high street shopping sector.

Featured for “crying to the papers” first via the Facebook group ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers,’ an “international magician” named Mike Alan – a man mocked as the type that “shops in M&S but cuts a Lidl version of Richard O’Brien” – claims to have paid £75 for a coat that one commentator described simply as “I’ve seen nicer jackets on hot water tanks.”

Aptly ‘Digusted of Tunbridge Wells’ (and yes, Mr Alan just had to be from Tunbridge Wells) moaned to KentLive’s multimedia journalist John James that he was left “seething” after an encounter with a shelf in the spa town’s Calverly Road Marks & Spencer store.

Of the calamitous incident, Mr Alan – whom claims to have performed for both the Queen and the Sultan of Brunei – explained:

“I went into the store like I do most days. I don’t have a problem with the shop or the staff themselves, they’re very polite. I go to look at a tin of biscuits and as I pull them off the shelf it rips my coat.”

“I went to the desk and asked to speak to a manager and they said they didn’t have one on shift at the moment, I said ‘What are you? A corner shop?’”

“By this point I looked like a snowman walking around with all the feathers coming out of my coat. I was told to call up head office.”

Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – Especially for ‘Kent Live’ readers, “as seen on TV” Mr Alan shared an image of the damage he did to a cucumber with the offending shelf. He did not declare whether he paid for said vine plant fruit.

Continuing of his subsequent lengthy less than magical correspondence with the retailer, Mr Alan – a man plainly lacking a Debbie McGee to do his biscuit buying – then angrily added:

“They’ve denied it’s sharp, so yesterday I went back in there and cut one of their cucumbers with the shelf. And they still say it’s not sharp. It’s like a razor!”

“All I’m after is for them to own up to it and give me £50 for the coat, which I’d give to a homeless charity so they could buy a coat.”

“I’m just really annoyed with their attitude. I’ve not been going in there since the incident. I’ve sent an invoice to them, I’m going to charge them for every email I send them.”

“The shelf is sharp and it’s at the same height as a child’s face. It’s a joke.”

Plainly sick of this moaning Minnie, an M&S spokesman responded: “We are giving him a gesture of goodwill to cover the cost of his coat.” Magic that, Mike.

Pictured top: Mike Alan displays his “savaged” coat for the benefit of readers of ‘Kent Live’ (left); previous encounters with retailers including Sports Direct feature on his Facebook page.

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Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers’ members had a field day with Mr Alan subsequently. “It’s not just any savaging. It’s an M&S shelf savaging,” remarked one Michael Burke.

Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – “This is a proper Quentin Tarantino film in the making” added a ‘top fan’ named Marcus Marr. Another ‘top fan,’ Cath Dodge, added: “Wearing a natty hat does not make you a magician, mate,” whilst one Danny Beattie observed: “I know what has a problem, and it’s not the shelf!”

Wally of the Week – Mike Alan – “That shelf could have cut a woman in half… and that’s my job!” mocked one Jim MacNee.

December 8, 2020
Stunning Stonewall

Co-founder of Calvin Klein Inc. puts his 740 acre equestrian estate just an hour from New York up for sale for £81 million; about 65 stake winners and several horses that have competed at the Kentucky Derby have been produced there

“Murdered grocer’s son from the Bronx” Barry K. Schwartz and his childhood friend Calvin Klein co-founded the now world-famous fashion brand Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968 and sold it for £589 million in 2003.

Barry K. Schwartz with Calvin Klein.

Barry K. and Sheryl Schwartz.

Aside from spending his ever-growing fortune on horses – one of which he named ‘Degenerate Jon’ (after his son) and another ‘Killer Diller’ (after his friend the media mogul Barry Diller) – Schwartz and his wife, Sheryl, purchased 673 acres of land to the north of New York City in Westchester County in 1979 for the back then far from insubstantial sum then of £2.6 million.

There, not that far from Belmont Park racetrack in the small residential hamlet of Granite Springs, after adding yet more land to take their “equestrian estate” to a grand total of 18 deeded parcels on 740 contiguous acres, the couple created a world-class equestrian establishment that they filled with thoroughbred racehorses. Facilities at ‘Stonewall Farm’ – as it is now known – have evolved to include a turf racetrack, riding trails, a 40-stall yearling barn, two 24-stall broodmare barns, round pens and 4board fenced paddocks and pastures with run-in sheds.

A year after cashing in alongside Klein, stamp collector Schwartz’s new home was completed on the property. It features 24,000 square foot of accommodation, 8 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. There is a 2,200-bottle wine cellar, a pub, a two-storey library “that would delight any reader” and living spaces that “invites elegant entertaining, whether intimate or on a grand scale,” according to selling agents Christie’s International Real Estate.

Elsewhere in the grounds, there are 8 staff residences (to house the 30 employees that currently maintain the estate), a guest house and a caretaker’s house. Formal gardens, designed by Edmund D. Hollander in geometric French and Japanese styles, adjoin the house and there is a 60-foot long swimming pool within a 4,000 square foot pavilion also.

Stonewall Farm is situated just one hour from Manhattan, but now that Mr and Mrs Schwartz are spending more time at another of their homes in Santa Barbara, California, they have decided to sell. Of it, realtor Kathleen Coumou told The Journal News:

“It’s on one of the largest pieces of property that one can purchase in the county. It was so convenient for [the Schwartzes] to be on this farm, with all its privacy, and still be close to New York… [It’s] magnificently laid out, with a southern-looking main house and behind it, it’s like you’re in Kentucky. You see the pastures with the horses and lots of woodlands. It’s quite spread out – it feels like you’re somewhere else, not in Westchester County… You have gorgeous views – hills and ponds and horses and paddocks, and different levels of rolling hills… You certainly can’t see anybody else around.”

“[Stonewall Farm will be sold to] a billionaire, who could come from anywhere.”

The Names & Numbers – Stonewall Farm, Mahopac Avenue, Granite Springs, Westchester County, New York, NY 10527, United States of America

April 2020 – For sale for £80.7 million ($100 million, €92.1 million or درهم368 million) through Christie’s International Real Estate. Of why, they chose this sum, realtor Kathleen Coumou told The Journal News: “We did a very thorough appraisal of the property – the land and all of the buildings – and came up with a price of $110 million, and then we decided to round it down to $100 million.”

June 2005 – The house is featured in Architectural Digest.

1999 to 2004 – Construction of main house, a “colonial-style manor” with a “white clapboard facade and a slate roof repurposed from the Yale Divinity School,” was completed to the designs of the New York architect Rebecca Rasmussen with an interior by the London based interior designer Kelly Hoppen.

2003 – Calvin Klein and Barry K. Schwartz sell their company to Philips-Van Heusen (now known as PVH Corp.) for £589 million ($730 million, €672 million or درهم2.7 billion).

1979 – Barry K. and Sheryl Schwartz pay £2.6 million ($3.25 million, €3 million or درهم11.9 million) for 673 acres of land. Of buying it, Mr Schwartz later commented: “”It was the easiest negotiation of my life. The seller asked $3.5 million, I offered $3 million and we settled on $3.25 million.” The couple purchased further land shortly thereafter.

1968 – Calvin Klein (born 19^th November 1942) co-founds Calvin Klein Inc. with his childhood friend Barry K. Schwartz (born 25^th May 1942) with a loan of £8,100 ($10,000, €9,200 or درهم36,700).

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April 8, 2020
An Ugly Duckling With All The Extras

“Ugly duckling” ex-crab boat converted into “ultimate fun factory” by billionaire equity investor for sale for 47% less than in 2017; it comes with gadgets galore amongst them a two-seat amphibious flying boat

Stanford educated private equity investor Richard Kayne manages over £25.3 billion ($31 billion, €28.7 billion or درهم113.8 billion) through his firm Kayne Anderson Capital Advisers. He also “doesn’t like to sit still,” has over 300 employees and is not only pretty “alternative” in the way he invests; he’s also pretty unusual in the style of yacht he favours.

Father of three Kayne took up sailing in order to “get [his] daughters involved in a family experience” around 2002 and then commissioned a 164-foot yacht named JeMaSa – a merger of the names of Jenni, Maggie and Saree, his aforementioned children. His love of “toys” – such as Eurocopter helicopters, sea planes, submarines, tenders, flyboards, jet-skis and inflatable water slides – subsequently resulted in a further purchase, a 170-foot steel hulled crab fishing boat that he intended simply to use as a “supply boat” to house his ever-growing collection of “kit.”

Richard Kayne and his wife Suzanne.

Prior to becoming ‘SuRi,’ the yacht was a crab fishing vessel named ‘Fierce Contender.’

Nowadays, the boat is more likely to be found taking wealthy individuals to off-the-beaten track locations.

Previously known as Fierce Contender (built in Lockport, Louisiana in 1978) and used in the Discovery Channel television series Deadliest Catch, the boat was converted into a “shadow yacht” in Seattle over the winter of 2007. Of the work, in November 2019, Kayne told Boat International:

“Designing the garage was a challenge. In addition to the helicopter we had a hovercraft, one of the world’s noisiest boats, a hand-built mahogany speedboat, a work boat, WaveRunners, Sea-Doos, sailboats, ski and wakesurfing boats and, eventually, an amphibious airplane.”

Renamed SuRi – a combination of his name and that of his wife, Suzanne – the Kayne family then took their fleet to Denarau, Fiji and though together the financier termed them his “hundred-metre articulated yacht,” he later came to realise that “neither yacht was adequate for all the people and all the toys.”

His response came in 2011 and of it, he announced: “I did another silly thing – I decided to sell JeMeSa and jumbo-size SuRi.” The boat was taken to Alameda, California, cut in half and expanded to provide further accommodation and “what is arguably the largest toy garage-cum-aircraft hangar afloat outside the US Navy.” The resulting “amenity-rich explorer yacht” is now 208-foot long and can accommodate 18 guests in 7 cabins with 19 crew.

Capable of a range of 7,400 nautical miles at a maximum speed of 13 knots, SuRi became what its owner termed “the ultimate fun factory” where: “Whatever it is that you want to do – put jet boots on your feet and go flying up in the air, go kitesurfing, take a cruise in a Riva type of boat, or go wakeboarding, wake surfing, waterskiing, fishing or diving, you just go and do it.”

Now, however, Kayne’s enthusiasm has moved on to developing an “American-style golf club” on New Zealand’s North Island. He first put SuRi – which astonishingly has over 3,300 followers on its Instagram account – up for charter through firms such as Cookson Adventures and then tried to sell the yacht for £35.8 million ($43.9 million, €40.7 million or درهم161.2 million) in 2017. That price plainly was not achievable and now, Burgess Yachts are offering the craft for the much-reduced sum of £18.8 million ($23 million, €21.7 million or درهم84.5 million).

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April 5, 2020
Going Thin – Two Into One?

Second apartment in South Kensington’s famous ‘Thin House’ comes to the market after another has languished for sale for four years; the two could potentially be merged to make a truly spectacular artist’s studio in the sky

In May 2016, The Steeple Times featured a 603 square foot third floor artist’s studio flat in a building known as ‘The Thin House’ (or ‘The Skinny House’) in Thurloe Square, South Kensington. Priced then at £895,000 ($1.1 million, €1 million or درهم4.1 million), this apartment is surprisingly still for sale for the same sum and complete with the same furniture four years later. Now, however, it is no longer offered by the defunct agents W. A. Ellis and is instead available through agents Rokstone.

The third floor space for sale through Rokstone for £895,000 has been on the market since 2016, yet has never been reduced in price.

A reason this flat may not have ‘moved’ in the period is not only that the building in which it is situated is not only of an “architecturally weird shape,” but also because it directly backs onto the District and Circle line. With trains running from around 5.30am to 12.30am each day, it is undoubtedly noise affected.

Constructed on the remaining land of five neo-classical houses demolished to make way for the underground in the 1860s, red brick 5 Thurloe Square – just six foot wide at its narrowest point – was the brainchild of a local builder named William Douglas. Fitting into a “meagre” triangle, he designed and built seven artists’ studios between 1885 and 1887 and some of them are still in use by creatives to this day.

As well as the aforementioned share of freehold third floor property, a studio on the second floor of the building is also on the market. Offered by Winkworth for £875,000 ($1.1 million, €980,000 or درهم4 million), the 676 square foot space features a 21-foot by 16-foot studio with a small kitchen and bathroom off and a 13-foot by 7-foot mezzanine bedroom over. The agents describe the property as offering “exceptional space” and “the most magnificent view over the treetops of Thurloe Square towards the Victoria and Albert Museum.”

Subject to planning, imagination and deep pockets, an inspired individual could perhaps purchase and merge both apartments into one. The resulting 1,279 square foot creation would not only be thin, it could potentially be spectacular.

Images and floor plans of the third floor artist’s studio follow.

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March 27, 2020
Going Dutch

Vast “architecturally rich” Knightsbridge apartment for sale for £8.5 million

A Knightsbridge triplex with a truly extravagant interior has gone on sale for £8.5 million ($10.9 million, €9.7 million or درهم39.9 million).

Spread over the ground, basement and first floors of a Grade II listed portered building in Pont Street, SW1X, the apartment has an impressive drawing room, a dining room, a study, 4, bedrooms, 4 bathrooms. It extends to 3,791 square foot and benefits from its own private entrance door and internal lift.

Offered by agents Russell Simpson, the property is within a semi-Dutch, semi-Queen Anne style building that dates to the 1870s. Its architecture was later termed ‘Pont Street Dutch’ by Sir Osbert Lancaster CBE (1908 – 1986) and was also referenced as being typical of “tall sparingly decorated red brick mansions for very wealthy occupants” by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner CBE (1902 – 1983). Whether an incoming purchaser will buy-to-live or, as is so often the case in this area of money park London, buy-to-leave remains to be seen.

June 18, 2017
Anything Can Happen

5,000 acre Irish estate where “anything can happen” for sale for £24.1 million; its current owner would prefer a buyer who’ll allow him to use it for three months a year

Michael Jackson hid out at Luggala in County Wicklow, Ireland in 2006 for three months after being cleared of child molestation charges and other guests at this magical estate have included Francis Bacon, Orlando Bloom, Bono, John Paul Getty II, Mel Gibson, John Hurt, Mick Jagger, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Paul McCartney and Anita Pallenberg.

Encompassing a plot of some 5,000 acres, Luggala (meaning: “a hollow in a ridge”) is also known as ‘Fancy Mountain’ and has been used in films including Zardoz, Braveheart and Excalibur. It is located 28 miles south-west of Dublin, was described by the singer Marianne Faithfull as “the most beautiful place in the world” and the main house there has gradually morphed into what has been called “the most decorative honeypot in Ireland”.

Architecturally significant, Luggala Lodge (also known as Luggala Castle), was built in 1787 and is lauded as having “that special brand of 18^th century Gothick that rejoices in little battlements, crochets, trefoil and quatrefoil windows and ogee mantelpieces, Indeed, quite like the Gothick of pastry cooks and Rockingham china”. It “boasts all the appurtenances of a grand castle but on a miniature scale” and though standing on a modest footprint, extends to some 7,438 square foot in total.

In 1937, the estate was bought by the Hon. Ernest Guinness (1876 – 1949) and given to his daughter, Oonagh, on her marriage to Lord Oranmore and Browne – a peer with the rare distinction of managing to sit in the House of Lords without ever saying a single thing. It subsequently became a place where “nobody could stay away: Dublin intelligentsia, literati, painters, actors, scholars, hangers-on, toffs, punters, poets and social hang-gliders” and was even immortalised in poetry by Seamus Heaney.

Current owner of Luggala, the decidedly eccentric the Hon. Dr. Garech Browne (born 1939)

Luggala Lodge, Roundwood, Leinster, County Wicklow, Ireland

Luggala Lodge after a fire in 1956

Oonagh Guinness, Oonagh, Lady Oranmore and Browne (1910 – 1995)

On Oonagh, Lady Oranmore and Browne’s death in 1970, the estate passed into the “custody” of her son, the Hon. Dr. Garech Browne. He has spent considerable sums restoring the house and made it a “cultural hub for Irish music, art and literature”. A co-founder of the record label Claddagh Records and instrumental in the formation of the traditional Irish folk group, The Chieftans, Browne and his Indian princess wife, Purna Devi of Morvi, added an indoor swimming pool to Luggala Lodge as well as a Gothic library for his collection of 8,000 books.

Now for sale due to 77-year old Garlech Browne and his wife primarily choosing to be based in Singapore, it has been suggested that the Irish State should purchase the estate. Thus far no offer has been forthcoming and this week Jennifer O’Connell of The Irish Times even penned an article that suggested: “Opening the national chequebook is not the way to secure [Luggala’s] future”.

Luggala – which comes with 7 estate lodges and cottages – is offered jointly by Sotheby’s International Realty and Crawford’s with a guide price of £24.1 million ($30.1 million, €28 million or درهم110.7 million). The Guernsey based Guinness Trust that currently controls the actual ownership of the property has indicated that it “seeks a freehold sale and will entertain offers with both vacant possession and non-vacant possession”. Though such a deal seems as unlikely as that that Christian de Guigné IV proposed of his £81 million ($100 million, €94 million or درهم367 million) estate at Hillsborough in California, at the mythical delight that is Luggala, anything could indeed happen.

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