A House Beautiful Written by Andrew Ellinas Wednesday, 03 February 2010
A House Beautiful

Estate agents are notorious for going over the top in describing the houses they sell, though strangely the owners of the houses in question never tell us to tone our prose down.

But a house we have just been instructed to sell deserves all the superlatives I can throw into the brochure. It is truly fabulous and I would just love to live in it myself.

The house is in one of the prettiest locations on the planet--St Katharine's Precinct on the western side of Regent's Park. It is a little enclave of houses built round the Danish Church. It was designed in 1826 to look a bit like the quad of an Oxbridge college. Even the church looks like a miniature King’s College chapel.

The house is in the Tudor style, with big square windows and, round the side, a lovely stone bay window with enchanting mini-battlements. Very Hampton Court.

Inside, everything has been brought bang up-to-date by the designer Bill Bennette, and I think he has done a fabulous job creating a classic interior with all modern comforts. Cool, understated by luxurious. Great for elegant parties and for just living in. It has four bedrooms with all the usual stuff, and a secluded garden.

But what I really like about it is the privacy combined with a really central location. The house is at the back of a private precinct, but looks directly out on Regent's Park and is within a few minutes of Marylebone's shops and restaurants and the theatres of the West End. It's a dream.

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