History, elegance and luxurious style overlooking Regent’s Park
IF – as Kirtsy and Phil are always telling us – the three most important things in a property are location, location and location, then there can be few better than Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent’s Park. It’s a short chauffeur-driven hop from the Ritz, the Houses of Parliament and Harley Street.
This Grade I-listed crescent of perfect British neoclassicism was commissioned in 1811, having been designed by John Nash and Decimus Burton, the men responsible for the most elegant examples of the Georgian West End. It is now owned by the Crown Estate and was acquired in 2008 by Oakmayne Bespoke, who employed 250 craftsmen to expend 83,000 man-hours over two and a half years to create eight unthinkably high-end homes, where there were originally 19.
Each has an official name – Paget House, Carruthers House and so on – and a snazzy title that refers to one of its famous erstwhile occupants and adds a bit of historical Imperial glamour. For example Silk House is also called the House of the Explorer, named after James Silk Buckingham, a travel-writer who lived in Cornwall Terrace in the 1820s.
The properties range from just over 8,000sq ft to over 14,000, and each has a mews cottage tacked to the back that would serve as staff quarters. The largest has seven bedroom suites, and every property has a newly-dug basement entertainment room, while the lower ground floor houses a gym, spa, cinema and staff quarters.
Each also has an internal lift, and three parking bays, including a Bentley-sized internal garage and ram-proof garage doors.
Bedrooms, the developers boast, are bigger than the size of a normal apartment – and they’re not thinking of a studio flat in Balham.
The houses have stunning views of the park, and they haven’t stinted on the gadgetry either – each house has 1,700 miles of cabling for all the high-tech gizmos.
Two of the properties are currently dressed and on the market, while the others are pretty much blank canvases and the developer says that wine-cellars, libraries or swimming pools could be added – a full interior design job will cost £1.5-2m on top of the selling price. Number 6 is currently on the market for £39m, while Number 11 is £29m. Number 9 will launch imminently, and Number 20 in autumn, while the others will trickle on to the market later.
For more information, contact Meriam Makiya of Knight Frank on 020 7861 5487 or email [email protected]