On Grade I Listed Cornwall Terrace, designed by John Nash and built by Decimus Burton between 1821-23 as one of the first completed terraces in the grand Regent’s Park scheme, award-winning Silk House, a magnificent and extremely rare 8,641 sq.ft. six-bedroom eight-bathroom four-reception home, meticulously restored to the specification of the Crown Estate and English Heritage and exactingly interior designed to provide the ultimate family accommodation, is available to let with Aston Chase.
Once the London residence of James Silk Buckingham, a prominent human rights and anti-slavery campaigner, Silk House has a prized location at the end of the terrace, an exquisite example of 19th century neoclassical architecture, and with rare, spectacular views over the lake on the Outer Circle of Regent’s Park. While it benefits from the tranquillity of the traffic-restricted park, it is just minutes from Marylebone High Street, in easy walking distance of St John’s Wood and Primrose Hill, and has quick access to The City, Soho and the West End.
Judged the Evening Standard’s best new luxury home when it was completed in 2011, the opulent five-storey residence provides six ensuite bedrooms, a gym with spa, cinema room, study, lift, vaults and staff quarters, plus every conceivable contemporary luxury on a billionaire’s wish list: underfloor heating and comfort cooling, an internal garage with armoured door, state-of-the-art home automation and security systems, an exquisite turnkey interiors scheme of bespoke fittings and finishes, plus a two-bedroom mews apartment for staff with additional garage, available by separate negotiation.
Silk House forms part of developer Oakmayne Bespoke’s ambitious scheme to reclaim the Grade I Listed terrace of townhouses on Cornwall Terrace, which were being used as office space, as eight palatial residences. Under the watchful eye of heritage experts, the scheme saw teams of craftspeople replace old floorboards with soundproofed ones, rebuilding staircases to their original glory and re-creating doors, panelling and plasterwork – marrying modern luxuries with authentic historic features.
Silk House, also dubbed ‘The House of the Explorer’, is named for past resident James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855), a British mariner, reforming parliamentarian, author, journalist, traveller and influential anti-slavery activist. With his formative years spent at sea, Buckingham was an inveterate traveller, living in India for many years, and is famous for founding a liberal press in the country, establishing the Calcutta Journal in 1818. However, his criticisms of the East India Company and the British government led him to being expelled from the country, although he was later awarded compensation.
During the 1820s, with his wife Elizabeth, he lived at the newly built Silk House, then also considered the height of luxury, continuing his journalistic endeavours and establishing other newspapers and journals. Between 1832 and 1836, Buckingham served as MP for Sheffield, and was a strong advocate for social reform, calling for the end of flogging in the armed services and the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1833, he promoted the law that would abolish slavery across the British empire, and was a fierce advocate for the United States to follow suit.
Today, Cornwall Terrace is still regarded as one of London’s most prestigious addresses, with more recent residents including members of the Qatari royal family, ambassadors, entrepreneurs and property traders.
Silk House opens on to a spectacular entrance hall, with flooring laid in near white limestone and dark stone geometric inserts, leading through to a grand staircase which sweeps up through the building, with large windows and skylight allowing an abundance of natural light to pour in (the custom-designed lift discreetly positioned off the hallway). Walnut veneered doors within painted tulipwood architraves lead on to the dining room, with grand classical proportions and ceiling heights of more than 3.49m (9.8ft), and restored Georgian ceiling roses and cornicing.
The state-of-the-art kitchen, with heated Crema Marfil marble flooring, white countertops that curve into a large kitchen island/breakfast bar and fawn cabinetry, meets every chef’s checklist, with Gaggenau appliances including a steam oven and wine cooler. Also on the ground floor are a comfortable family room and powder room.
On the first floor, a spectacular 39ft. 7in. by 16ft. 3in. reception room has grand piano nobile dimensions, with floor-to-ceiling windows opening onto a balcony that runs the width of Silk House, with views across Regent’s Park and the lake. Authentic period cornicing and ceiling roses reproduced by award-winning plaster specialists Locker & Riley, an original fireplace and polished oak flooring are a stunning backdrop to the bespoke contemporary furniture, joinery, lighting and artwork.
Also at this level are a media/cinema room, with modular seating, surround sound and mood lighting, while a study next door with wooden wall panelling, solid wooden desk and handcrafted wool carpet is a tranquil work-from-home retreat. There is a second powder room at this level.
The second floor is devoted to the majestically proportioned principal 1,695sq.ft. bedroom suite, with intricate cornicing, plush wool and silk carpets, views from its four huge sash windows across Regent’s Park, and also incorporating a lounge area. The main ensuite bathroom has underfloor heated white marble underfoot, with light brown Emperador marble to vanity tops. Watch the built-in plasma screen TV while reclining in the bathtub, or head to the separate shower room, on the other side of the bespoke walk-in dressing room.
Four further bedrooms are on the third floor, all with en suite bathrooms. All the bedrooms can comfortably fit a super king-sized bed, with the bathrooms, along with the home’s powder rooms, showcasing a range of carefully sourced marbles and stones, from Silver Travertine and Kashmir Gold to Calacatta Caldia and Bleu de Savoie.
On Silk House’s lower ground level, which has private rear access and a large private terrace, staff accommodation is provided with a large bedroom, ensuite shower room and kitchen, with separate utility room with white Corian worktops and porcelain-tile flooring. The exercise and spa amenities include a gym and treatment room, the latter with mint-green tiling, plus powder room. Internal access is provided at this level to the 19ft. 4in. by 18ft. 1in. garage, fitted with a Silvelox Secur Plus armour-plated door – perfect to keep the custom Rolls-Royce Cullinan safe – while two vaults provide storage.
A two-bedroom mews apartment, with living room, kitchen and a further garage, is available to let by separate negotiation.
Arron Bart, Lettings Director at Aston Chase, says: “Silk House presents an extremely rare opportunity to rent a magnificent Grade I Listed 1820s house on Nash-designed Cornwall Terrace in Regent’s Park. Not only does it come with an extraordinary history as the former home of British MP, journalist and anti-slavery campaigner James Silk Buckingham, the award-winning home provides 8,641sq.ft. of turnkey living space over five floors, a host of exquisitely restored period features, six sumptuous bedroom suites, eight bathrooms, four receptions and prized views over the lake of Regent’s Park’s Outer Circle.”
Silk House: The House of the Explorer on Cornwall Terrace is available to let fully furnished for £16,000 per week (or unfurnished subject to separate negotiation). For further information or to arrange a viewing, contact Aston Chase on T: +44 (0)207 724 4724, or visit astonchase.com.
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