Home Commercial Property Capability Brown’s £6.5m London mansion for sale

Capability Brown’s £6.5m London mansion for sale

by LLP Reporter
10th May 20 9:42 am

For Londoners dreaming of more living space, amenities and outside space during the current Coronavirus lockdown Beauchamp Estates are currently marketing Prestbury House, a magnificent Grade II listed 7,305 sqft Hampton Court manor house, with connections to King George III, Lancelot “Capability” Brown and the Romanov dynasty, providing the perfect ‘lockdown pad’, opening onto private gardens and Bushy Park.

Located off Hampton Court Road, the eight bedroom Prestbury House is adjacent to the Royal Paddocks and Hampton Court Palace and opens onto the 1,100 acres of Bushy Park. The Georgian manor house offers Royal connections, grand living spaces, large family kitchen, breakfast room, dining room, study, first floor lounge/media room, master bedroom suite with master bathroom, and seven further bedrooms – some of which could be used for exercise/relaxation rooms, a staff kitchen, wine cellars and a separate artist’s studio/day room in the substantial gardens: everything needed for luxurious self isolation. The manor house is currently unoccupied and is interior designed and dressed, providing the perfect turn-key pad available for accommodation.

For applicants interested in the property Beauchamp Estates have a special 360 degree ‘virtual viewing’ tour which would enable an applicant to remotely tour the manor house from the safety of their home/office, from anywhere in the world. Thanks to advanced IT, the viewing screen and phone/speaker of the applicant and Beauchamp Estates sales agent can be linked during the tour enabling the agent to answer questions during the remote tour. An applicant could let the unoccupied furnished Prestbury House for £4,500 per week during the current lockdown and if they liked the property at the end of the tenancy it could be purchased for £6,500,000.

Providing accommodation over lower ground, ground and two upper floors, the manor house has a first floor balcony and all the space and facilities needed to entertain a family during the current UK lockdown, allowing for a range of work, cultural or leisure activities. There is the first floor lounge/media room for watching films, documentaries or virtual tours of the world; the study for home working, learning a language, writing a diary/novel or having video/telephone calls with friends/family; the reception rooms for relaxation, reading books, singing, playing computer/board games and bird/nature watching and the family kitchen for home cooking, baking and wine tasting.

The bedrooms are perfect for sleeping/relaxation and the outside artist’s studio/day room can be used for painting, yoga or meditation. One or more bedroom could be used for a gym for home fitness or pilates; the marble bathrooms and home spa/treatment for pampering and relaxation and the first floor balcony and outside private garden for enjoying the outside/sunbathing and the 1,100 acres of Bushy Park for walking or running.

Prestbury House was originally built in 1742 with an elegant brick façade, tall windows, modillian cornice and mansard roof with dormer windows to the main façade. The house was extended with side wings in 1778-1781 and substantially refurbished in 1935 and 2011, the 2011 work carried out by architect ADAM Architecture and interior designer Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler.

Prestbury House was originally built in 1742 to provide an official residence for the Royal Master Gardener to first King George II and later King George III, with a nearby property, Wilderness House, built in 1700, providing offices for the Master Gardener and his staff.

The first occupant of Prestbury House was landscape architect George Lowe who oversaw the construction of the manor house and who between 1738-1758 served as Master Gardener to King George II, followed by resident John Greening who served as Master Gardener to first George II and then King George III between 1758 to 1764. In 1764 Greening was replaced by the famous Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1716-1783); Brown chose to make Wilderness House his official residence and used Prestbury House first as his offices and then sub-let the property to one of his estate managers.

In 1881 the Royal Household decided that Wilderness House and Prestbury House should be used as grace and favour residences. The properties were modernised with Prestbury House given electricity and bathrooms in 1935-1936 and the same upgrades done to Wilderness House in 1907-1912.

Between 1910-1935 the properties became the home and staff quarters for Lady White and family, the widow of Field Marshal Sir George White, the Governor of Gibraltar. Then between 1937 to 1960 Wilderness House was provided to HIH Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia, the exiled sister of Tsar Nicolas II, as her official London residence whilst Prestbury House served as offices, administration and accommodation for her staff and family.

It is from here that Grand Duchess Xenia and her staff had to deal with the claims of impostor Anna Anderson who fraudulently said she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia (the fraud only proved in 1991 after DNA analysis). In 1945 Prestbury House was sold and became a privately owned residence, a status that remains up until the present day.

The gardens of Prestbury House are bordered by historic walls, some which date back to 1540, built by King Henry VIII, with ornate pedestrian entrance gates and a side gate and sweeping driveway for cars/vehicles.

The house has a grand marble tiled entrance hall with access to an inner hall with parquet flooring and access to the main staircase that leads to all floors. The main reception room has a grand Regency fireplace, coffered ceiling and parquet flooring. The dining room, family room and study have elegant fireplaces and statement flooring.

The family kitchen has stone slab flooring, feature lighting and a central island topped with marble and a butcher’s block. To one side is a breakfast area with banquette seating and fitted cabinets.

The master bedroom suite is the size of a conventional one bedroom apartment with a master bathroom and a separate lounge/media room. There are seven further bedrooms and three further family/ensite bathrooms. On the lower ground floor there is a staff kitchen and wine cellars whilst a guest cloakroom and double garage complete the ground floor accommodation. The private gardens surrounding the manor house were redesigned in 2011 by landscape designer Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd.

Jeremy Gee, Managing Director of Beauchamp Estates says: “Prestbury House is magnificent turn-key dressed manor house in Bushy Park, it is truly an outstanding lockdown pad, providing everything needed for self isolation. The 7,305 sqft house and gardens provide all the space and facilities needed to entertain a family during the current UK lockdown, allowing for a range of different work, cultural or leisure activities.”

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