London is awash with spectacular properties, and The National's London luxury property series showcases the best of them. This month, the featured property is a right royal affair.
Featured property
Warwick Lodge, Pimlico, SW1 - £10 million ($12m)
The key details
Providing 7,000 sq ft of living space and 1,005 sq ft of balconies and terraces, Warwick Lodge is a seven-bedroom house on the corner of London’s Warwick Square with what is believed to be the largest garden in the Pimlico.
The property was the family home of an ancestor of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, wife of the UK's Prince Charles.
It is for sale via agents Jackson-Stops and Radstock Property.
What's the story?
Warwick Lodge was one of three family homes in Warwick Square owned and inhabited by the Cubitt family, whose patriarch was master builder Thomas Cubitt (1788-1855).
Cubitt founded his building company Cubitt & Co in 1810 and is renowned for building parts of the Grosvenor Estate (Belgravia and Pimlico) and royal residences including Buckingham Palace (east front) and Osborne House. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is a Cubitt through her mother Rosalind, with Thomas Cubitt her great-great-great grandfather.
Together with his nephew Andrew, Cubitt designed the lodge to be the family's preferred home. He used his close relationship with Lord Grosvenor to obtain permission for the large walled garden, where the younger members of the clan played.
The Cubitt family owned the lodge until 1919.
Now Warwick Lodge, it has been fully modernised by design house Chester Jones and offers substantial accommodation over lower ground, ground, first and second floors.
What are the design features?
Warwick Lodge is a grand white-stucco Victorian house with large bay windows opening on to a walled garden measuring 70ft by 60ft, with a patio for alfresco dining and entertaining.
The house has an entrance hall, reception room and family kitchen/breakfast room on the ground floor, all opening on to or offering views over the garden. On the first floor is a large drawing room with access on to a roof terrace, and an anteroom with a step-out balcony. On its own private level on the top floor is the first of two principal bedroom suites, with a bedroom that overlooks the garden and opens on to a balcony, walk-in dressing room and a bathroom with bath and separate shower.
On the lower ground floor, patios enable natural light to cascade into the living spaces. The second principal bedroom suite has a sizeable bedroom, walk-in wardrobe, separate dressing room and a bathroom.
There are four further bedrooms and three bathrooms, a fitness suite with gymnasium, steam room, sauna and bathroom, a TV/media room, a utility room and a self-contained studio with its own kitchen, bathroom and separate access (serving as a staff flat or seventh bedroom).
What the broker says
What makes the property stand out from the crowd?
Warwick Lodge is one of the most important houses to come on to the market in the local area for some years, yet the price is highly competitive and offers substantial value-for-money compared to an equivalent house of this size and garden in Belgravia or Mayfair. Combining period and modern features, this large house offers an abundance of bedrooms, reception and entertaining space.
Are there similar homes in London?
There are other white stucco family houses built in Pimlico and Belgravia by Thomas Cubitt as part of the Grosvenor Estate, however, Warwick Lodge is unique because this was built by Thomas for his own family and the house is very unusual as it is built on a double plot and opens on to an extremely large walled garden.
Of the garden and adjoining central gardens of Warwick Square, the leafy setting is like being in the country rather than in the heart of central London. The walled garden is believed to be the largest residential garden in the Pimlico and Buckingham Palace area — only the gardens at Forbes House and Clarence House are larger.
What kind of buyer would the property most suit?
Warwick Lodge is perfect for a family and for someone wanting a London residence where they can entertain, work from home and enjoy the garden.
In recent years Pimlico and Warwick Square has captured the attention of buyers from the Gulf who had been looking at homes in adjacent Belgravia but been attracted to Pimlico because the homes and garden squares are very similar to Belgravia but better value for money.
Why is now a good time to buy in London?
With its green parks and garden squares, London remains a city which attracts buyers from around the world. As international flights have started to resume, the housing market has rebounded and prices and sales have begun to rise.
Now is the time to get on to the London housing ladder before the market becomes truly buoyant again as flights and overseas buyers return in strong numbers.
George Franks, Director at Radstock Property
