Embassy exodus returns acres of central London to its residents
As the embassies exit Mayfair and Marylebone, their former bases will free up stunning family homes. While the move of many embassies to Nine Elms at Vauxhall is creating a new residential quarter including thousands of new apartments.
Fast new commuter routes are changing London's property map
Regeneration throughout London continues to change the property map, with the orbital train network and recent Tube line extensions creating faster commuter routes with good-value homes, including Deptford, Bromley and Woolwich.
Brighton spotlight
The East Sussex city of Brighton and Hove offers its residents the best of both worlds: a relaxed life at one end of the line within an hour's commute of London, and a good mix of Regency terrace houses, seafront apartments and family homes.
Canterbury spotlight
The compact city of Canterbury sits 60 miles south-east of London in Kent. In recent years its property market has been boosted by a high-speed rail service into St Pancras, which cuts the journey time to the capital to less than an hour.
Chelsea Flower Show preview 2013
This year the RHS Chelsea Flower Show promises to be suitably fabulous as it celebrates its centenary year with stunning gardens, including the Forget-me-Not Garden by B&Q and Prince Harry's charity.
Find a rated tradesman
Want to add value to your property, make your house a home, or sell your place fast? With 1,000s of tradesmen nationwide, rated and recommended by previous customers, this is the smart way to find a reputable tradesman.
Buy of the week: Stoke Newington, N16
This modern home of almost 1,000sq ft is close to Stoke Newington's high street. A 27ft reception room and two large bedrooms give the flat a spacious feel.
Out of town: Tetbury, Gloucestershire
The beauty spot of Leighterton, with its poppy fields, ivy-covered churches and popular local gastro pub, is home to this four-bedroom house with stone-walled gardens.
Life-changer: Dolwyddelan, Conwy
Have a station all to yourself by buying the Old Station Master's house at Roman Bridge, where trains will stop at your door on request. You also get three bedrooms and 10 acres of grounds.
Oxford spotlight
The small city of Oxford is famous for its university and honeyed stone architecture, but its huge range of property - from affordable new homes to luxurious Victorian houses - and one hour commute to London, are big attractions to home buyers.-
Buy of the week: Stoke Newington, N16
This modern home of almost 1,000sq ft is close to Stoke Newington's high street. A 27ft reception room and two large bedrooms give the flat a spacious feel. -
Out of town: Tetbury, Gloucestershire
The beauty spot of Leighterton, with its poppy fields, ivy-covered churches and popular local gastro pub, is home to this four-bedroom house with stone-walled gardens. -
Life-changer: Dolwyddelan, Conwy
Have a station all to yourself by buying the Old Station Master's house at Roman Bridge, where trains will stop at your door on request. You also get three bedrooms and 10 acres of grounds.
Property search
Will this be London's most expensive house?
By Ruth Bloomfield
36-38 Queen Anne's Gate was bought as a gutted shell for £50 million and is expected to be worth £120 million when the conversion is complete
Bought for £50 million by a Middle Eastern royal family as a shell — with no interior walls, stairs or original architectural features, it is now being turned into 33,863sq ft of living space plus a double height basement complex including a swimming pool and underground car park. The house could easily contain 279 standard one-bedroom flats.
Noel de Keyser, a director of Savills, said the chateau-style building would make a perfect house. “It is detached, it is strangely not listed, it is set within gardens, and it will have some very impressive rooms,” he said.
The company declined to comment about the project to restore the building, which was originally built between 1908 and 1910 as headquarters of the Anglo American Oil Company by the same architect who built the Adelphi Theatre, Ernest Runtz.
But de Keyser pointed out that super wealthy families travel with large entourages of domestic staff, assistants and security operatives. “London is a fashionable place to have a home - it is seen as a very safe haven in turbulent times,” he said.
The project is the latest in a string of cavernous super-homes being created in central London to satisfy the demands of the world’s richest men and women. The Qatari royal family is currently putting the finishing touches to a £117.4 million house in Park Lane, while 27,000sq ft Heath Hall in the Bishops Avenue, Hampstead, is on the market for offers in excess of £100 million.
More articles
-
New homes in London's Zone 1 on a Zone 2 budget
Our exclusive research shows a "price wall" formed by the Northern line, with property values to the east less than half those in the west. We reveal the emerging lower-value districts in Zone 1 for buyers on a Zone 2 budget.
-
London's top property growth areas
Wise homebuyers can get ahead of the curve by buying in London's potential growth areas, thanks to new transport links, regeneration projects and the arrival of iconic new buildings such as the Shard.
-
Embassy exodus returns acres of central London to its residents
As the embassies exit Mayfair and Marylebone, their former bases will free up stunning family homes. While the move of many embassies to Nine Elms at Vauxhall is creating a new residential quarter including thousands of new apartments.
-
Homes gossip
Keira Knightley and James Righton have bought a new marital home in Spitalfields; Reese Witherspoon's adds to her LA property portfolio; and Elton John's personal trainer sells up.
-
Hot homes: Georgian gems
The characteristic neat symmetry and full-height classical windows of Georgian homes have been enchanting Londoners for centuries. We take a property tour across the capital to discover fine examples of these character-filled homes.
-
New homes awards 2013: the winners
This year's London Evening Standard New Homes Awards praised thoughtful design and spacious interiors at a range of developments, from city-centre family homes to clever conversions and regeneration projects.
-
London's latest new homes update
Take your pick from London's newest properties, including 800 new homes in a former Bermondsey biscuit factory; family houses in Muswell near near the top-performing Fortismere School; and hundreds of new flats on the leafy slopes of Shooters Hill.
-
Property search: budget under £500,000
This week, we uncover 1,000sq ft two-bedroom apartment in Stoke Newington, a four-bedroom stone house in the Cotswolds and an Old Station Master's house in the heart of Snowdonia National Park that comes with its own railway station.
-
First Olympic village homes up for rent
Relaunched as East Village this week, the Stratford athletes' quarters is set to become home to thousands of London's renters in streets named with the Olympics in mind — from Prize Walk and Cheering Lane to Medals Way and Celebration Avenue.
-
Diary of an estate agent
A Sydenham estate agent is left waiting by clients and looks on the bright side when he spots a huge hole in the road outside the office.
Advertisement
