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LIFE-CHANGING BUYS Zoe Dare
L ife-changing HOMES
Start the new year with a look at some of the most startling properties on the market, writes Zoe Dare Hall
The pandemic has given us plenty of time, and not to be missed opportunities, to change our lives. Here, we ask Central London estate agents to recommend ‘life-changing’ properties that are on the market.
ESCAPISM IN THE CITY
Within the industrial, modern frame of this awardwinning new villa designed by Wells Mackereth and priced at £12.95m through Savills, is a home that exudes boutique hotel-like cosiness in its interiors and walled courtyard garden. Should another lockdown beckon, there are other features too to make you feel like you’re somewhere else. The sunken kitchen is modelled on Frank Sinatra’s in Palm Springs, the basement cinema and library room are inspired by the bold 20th century French designer Charlotte Perriand – and the tranquil walkways along Little Venice’s canals lie at the end of the street. savills.com
THE COUNTRY-CITY BALANCE
Those who are happily ensconced in new lives with their family in the countryside, but need to spend a couple of nights a week back in the city, are keeping prime London’s pied-à-terre market buoyant. There’s no need to sacrifice the outdoor space or big views though. A two or three-bed penthouse at Bezier Apartments on City Road in the heart of London’s Tech City comes with 1,600 sq ft of terrace with extraordinary city views. It’s priced at £4m through Knight Frank and could be a handy earner when you’re back in your muddy wellies as it’s a popular venue for shooting films, TV and music videos, including for Robbie William’s Mixed Signals. knightfrank.co.uk
WALK TO WORKABILITY
The five-bedroom Tent House – previously owned by the BBC’s Peter Sissons – is a rare freehold house in Shad Thames that could either tempt someone quitting the sticks, “an expected 2022 trend,” says Cluttons agent James Hyman, or remind them why they didn’t leave central London in the first place. The converted
ONE-OFF WONDERS Left: This award-winning new home in Warwick Place, Little Venice, is for sale through Savills’ St Johns Wood office. Above: A stylish conversion with views of the Shard could lure anyone back city living, and is selling through Cluttons
Victorian warehouse, priced at £2.85m, is an easy walk to the City and the West End, or a quick zip by Tube to Canary Wharf. It also comes with a garage – and view of the Shard from the terrace. cluttons.com
UPSIZING FAMILIES
Space, space, space. It’s what we all wanted last year – and there’s no going back. Muswell Hill’s large detached Edwardian houses close to green spaces and great schools also attracts families on the up. “It’s an outer prime area with a village feel – it’s the best north London suburb,” says Marlon Brown, manager of Dexters Muswell Hill, who is marketing a smart, characterful five-bed house near East Finchley tube for £3.2m. There’s a sauna pod in the bathroom and a dreamy, large garden whose pathway meanders around various ponds. dexters.co.uk
AN ENTERTAINMENT PALACE
Many famous musicians from Handel to Jimi Hendrix via the Bee Gees have already made their mark in Brook Street, living and composing some of their greatest works from this Mayfair address. Now, a freehold six-storey house “with the longest private garden I’ve ever seen in Mayfair,” says Carter Jonas’s Tim Macpherson, is on sale for £18.5m. It’ll need some updating, but those high ceilings and big rooms are calling out for some serious in-house entertaining. carterjonas.co.uk
GARDEN SQUARE GRANDEUR
Greenery is among the most requested feature
among buyers – and London’s garden squares come with a prestige all of their own. A 2,700 sq ft threebed flat in Bayswater – one of the hottest tips areas for 2022, thanks to new luxury schemes emerging on this relatively under-valued north side of Hyde Park – is priced £2.5m through KFH and needs total renovation. For those with a vision, though, it can become an impressive family residence overlooking the gorgeous greenery of Cleveland Square. kfh.co.uk
NO COMPROMISE LONDON LIVING
If you want the big house, with the big garden – and you have £9.95m to spend – there’s no need to leave London. You head for Hamilton Terrace in St John’s Wood, where you’ll find this huge (5,070 sq ft), handsome six-bed house with a 139ft-long back garden, a driveway big enough for several cars and an integrated garage. You’ll be competing with American buyers though, who are starting to return; they love this area, and the American School is a short walk away. sothebysrealty.co.uk
MAKE A WISH Clockwise from top left: Thames views from a Fulham new-build, through Bective; Carter Jonas is selling rock history with 70 Brook St; family living in Muswell Hill (Dexters); lush gardens in Hamilton Terrace, St John’s Wood (Sotheby’s)
THE BEAUTY OF BLUE SPACE
It’s not just green views we want, but blue ones too – and this three-bed property in Fulham’s Palace Wharf, priced at £3.5m through Bective is a rarity as a newbuild, freehold townhouse with direct river access. Over a morning coffee on your riverfront terrace, you can’t fail to dream. bective.co.uk
ALPINE RETREAT
MARYLEBONE DREAMING
Chiltern Firehouse has much to answer for, as Marylebone’s property market has been on fire ever since. Plaza Estates think a newly-refurbished threebed flat in Seymour Street, on sale for £2.2m, could be a life-changing opportunity. Flats rarely come up in the modern block, and this one sits just moments from Marble Arch and the gateway to the green expanses of Hyde Park. plazaestates.co.uk
Dreaming of snow? For Londoners looking for a bolthole in the French Alps, little beats the Chamonix Valley. A six-bed chalet, €5.6m, has a sauna, steam room, gym and swimming pool in Le Lavancher, plus ski paths and golf on the doorstep. cluttons.com L
HAMPSTEAD HEALTH
Wellbeing meets luxury at Fitzjohn’s, in the heart of north London’s most desirable village
Lifestory is delighted to announce the launch of Fitzjohn’s in Hampstead village. The development provides 29 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, including penthouses, with a guest suite, landscaped courtyard garden and automated underground car park. Hotelstyle facilities range from a concierge, owner’s club lounge and lift lobby with library to a health spa with exercise studio, wellness lounges, hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room and treatment/beauty salon.
Fitzjohn’s is arguably the finest new retirement community in Hampstead, located at No.79 Fitzjohn’s Avenue on the flat hilltop summit of the avenue, just a few hundred yards from the heart of Hampstead Village. With occupation planned for early March 2022, the apartments at Fitzjohn’s are created exclusively for those enjoying life over 60.
The Arts & Crafts inspired architecture of the development is by award-winning Sergison Bates and consists of two mansion buildings. Renowned international design studio 1508 London has created and dressed communal areas using the work of celebrated artist Dame Barbara Hepworth.
Each residence has a distinct design and layout. Apartments offer interconnected rooms and hallways which allows for maximum flexibility in how the spaces are used, with Juliet balconies to all the principal rooms. The development’s elevated hilltop location provides the apartments on the upper floors with sweeping panoramic views over central London. The apartments on the garden floor have the benefit of their own outside private garden terraces.
The communal spa has its own central lobby opening onto two wellness lounges, with the spaces all overlooking the spectacular hydrotherapy pool. The central garden courtyard is arranged with outside seating areas where residents can enjoy a fresh juice or coffee and read a book or the morning papers. L Prices at Fitzjohn’s start from £2.22m, through Goldschmidt & Howland and Beauchamp Estates. For further information on Fitzjohn’s contact Lifestory Group on 020 7980 8741, or email fi tzjohns@lifestory.group
