One of the first grand terraced mansions to be completed when London's Regent’s Park became a royal park in the 1820s is available to rent.
Five-floor, six-bedroom Silk House, also known as The House of the Explorer, was once the home of John Silk Buckingham, a prominent human rights and anti-slavery campaigner, mariner, reforming parliamentarian, author, journalist and inveterate traveller.
Buckingham lived in India for many years, founding a liberal press in the country with the establishment of the Calcutta Journal in 1818. However, he was expelled from India due to his criticism of the East India Company and the British government and returned to London, moving in to the newly built Silk House with his wife Elizabeth in the 1820s.
As MP for Sheffield, he called for the end of flogging in the armed services, the repeal of the Corn Laws – tariffs on imported food and grain that kept prices artificially high – and promoted the law that would abolish slavery across the British Empire.
More recent residents of Silk House include members of the Qatari royal family, ambassadors, entrepreneurs and property traders.
The Grade I-listed home, available for £16,000 a week, is in Cornwall Terrace, designed by John Nash and built by Decimus Burton. Alongside Cumberland Terrace and Chester Terrace, Cornwall Terrace set the standard for luxury in Regency London. The project was under the patronage of the Prince Regent, who became George IV.
The home has been restored to the specifications of the Crown Estate and English Heritage as part of a project by developer Oakmayne Bespoke to reclaim the townhouses, which had been used as office space. Heritage experts oversaw a team of craftspeople who installed soundproofed floorboards, rebuilt staircases to their original glory and recreated doors, panelling and plasterwork.
Silk House has eight bathrooms, a gym with a spa, a cinema room, a lift, a garage with armoured doors, and staff quarters.
Arron Bart, lettings director at Aston Chase, said: “Silk House presents an extremely rare opportunity to rent a magnificent Grade I-listed 1820s house.
“Not only does it come with an extraordinary history, the award-winning home provides 8,641 square feet of turnkey living space over five floors, a host of exquisitely restored period features, and prized views over the lake of Regent’s Park’s Outer Circle.”
