Reviving the Mary Celeste of property: Wandsworth’s most astonishing home
When city recruiter Susan Cuff first viewed her home in Wandsworth, it was a bit like a residential Mary Celeste. Abandoned 18 months previously, there was still washing in the machine and uneaten food lying around.
But underneath the debris of bachelors gone by, she saw there was potential for it to be an incredible family home. With its gothic architecture, spires and slanted alcoves, it certainly had plenty of character.
“There was nowhere near enough storage for a family of five,” she says “We had internal scaffolding around us for weeks, but eventually this amazing space unfolded around us. Architecturally, it’s fascinating, there’s nothing about it that’s simple.”
When friends approached the Grade II-Listed Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, they thought “it was some sort of lunatic asylum”, but it was, in fact, a refuge for female orphans of the Crimean War. Built in 1857, it also spent some time as a hospital during the war, then as a school, before Paul Tutton – of Tuttons wine bars – bought it from Wandsworth Council for £1 in the 1980s.
Now, there are around 25 residential apartments, a theatre school, a restaurant and bar and a number of small businesses, public and private gardens and artists’ studios on site, but Susan’s home is the largest of the lot.
Before she moved in with her husband and three sons, it had been home to a stream of bachelors, including Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor. Ten years later and the children have flown the nest and the time is ripe for down-sizing.
They leave a comfortable home on the edge of Wandsworth Common with Emmanuel School nearby.
“I can honestly say it’s been such a privilege to live in a building that’s so interesting, people want to come up to you and talk about it. I feel like an ambassador for it and it’s been a really fantastic place to live in.
On sale for £2.475m with Foxtons Battersea; call 020 7801 1111.