Gallery in the sky: Grand Designs water tower in Kennington converted into 10-storey home with space for art gallery

The 150-year-old tower once supplied the workhouse Charlie Chaplin lived in as a child with water. 
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Becky Davies14 February 2018

One of the most nailbiting episodes of Grand Designs featured a couple who risked everything on turning a derelict water tower in London into a home that literally became a landmark for fans of the show.

Now the Water Tower in Kennington has gone on the market, giving one lucky buyer the chance to own a slice of architectural — and televisual — history that is being offered as a possible vertical art gallery for an avid private collector.

Property developer Leigh Osborne and his partner Graham Voce spotted the tower from their rented apartment on the 36th floor of the Strata building, just a few hundred yards away.

Snapping up the 100ft tower for just £380,000, they thought they could get away with spending £600,000 on turning it into a breathtaking modern home in a grade II-listed setting.

More than £2million later, they were finally finished, after borrowing to the hilt wherever they could, including, apparently, on Osborne’s grandmother’s credit card!

The five-bedroom, four-bathroom property is almost as far away from a conventional house as it’s possible to be, with the £3.6million price tag to match.

The tower was built in 1867 to provide a 30,000-gallon water supply for the nearby Lambeth Workhouse, where more than 800 destitute families were once housed and where seven-year-old Charlie Chaplin lived with his impoverished mother for some time.

The conversion not only involved refurbishing the tower, but adding a two-storey glass cube that features the largest set of sliding doors in Europe, at five metres square.

The glass cube extension has the largest sliding glass doors in Britain (Sotheby's)

Shereen Malik, senior sales negotiator at UK Sotheby’s International Realty, said the doors — and the lift providing access throughout the towering home — were key to the entire property. “People want a character building with a modern aspect,” she said.

And what an aspect. The 24ft living room at the top of the house offers 360-degree views of London, and almost as encompassing a view from the splendid roof terrace on top of the glass cube.

“People with very creative minds are coming and having a look and they like what they see."

Covering nearly 4,500sq ft in rooms spread over 10 floors, the house would provide a perfect setting for an art collector thanks to high ceilings and therefore vast expanses of hanging space on the walls.

Ms Malik added: “There are people that like art and contemporary design who are showing a great deal of interest in the property.”

There is not only off-street parking, but a garage and, fittingly for such a lavish home, a fully fitted gym.

Although only completed in 2012, the area has changed beyond recognition and Ms Malik said: “You can see from the property, just how the London skyline has changed, especially south of the river, from Nine Elms to the South Bank and beyond.”

The house is virtually equidistant from Kennington and Elephant & Castle Tube stations, both about 500 yards away.