The Grand Tour
The original glazed front door features moulded panels and a beautiful leaded and coloured glass transom light. This opens to the wide and warm-yellow entrance hallway. Ceiling heights here, and through the entire house, are exceptionally generous. The house is particularly wide-set, with the spaces on the ground floor flowing effortlessly on a circular plan.
French doors lead to the kitchen, allowing light to flood the hall and providing a lovely vista to the very rear of the house and the study beyond. To the right is the bipartite living room, a capacious room painted a rich red with contrasting plasterwork and joinery painted chalky white. Two handsome and original chimneypieces, with cast-iron grates and working fires, define the spaces; cornicing is particularly ornate at the front of the room. A fixed window seat is thoughtfully set into the large, canted bay window overlooking the front garden, and reeded bookcases are positioned in both alcoves.
The rear of this room opens through a vast expanse of original fenestration and French windows to the conservatory, a wonderfully bright space overlooking the rear garden. The sunken study area with a beautiful mosaic tiled floor is set to the side and overlooks the garden. Connecting to the kitchen, this room could also make an excellent breakfast area or snug. The kitchen is a generous space and is positioned in the heart of the home. A large built-in larder is set to one side, and there is a fitted oven in the kitchen’s original hearth. Extensive cellars offer plentiful storage and lie below the kitchen and living room, with access from the rear of the entrance hallway.
The winding staircase, with a beautifully turned main newel post, featured as one of the locations for Richard Curtis’s 2013 film ‘About Time’, starring Bill Nighy. It leads to four spacious bedrooms and a shared bathroom on the first floor. The staircase continues up to the apex; an artist’s garret of sorts, the attic room is a vast cathedral-like space with a tall, pitched roof and is flooded with light, care of several skylights. An en suite bathroom is discreetly hidden behind a partition wall, while French windows open to a wooden set of steps and descend to a private and sunny roof terrace with verdant views of neighbouring treetops.
The Great Outdoors
The large, secluded garden leads directly from the conservatory and is wonderfully mature with separate seating areas, including a terrace nearest to the house. Before the house was built, Brondesbury Estate was formed of market gardens because of its fertile local soil, and many of the several trees in the garden are older than the house itself.
These mature trees afford great privacy and seclusion to the garden. There is a lawn surrounded by many additional established specimens, including an abundance of mature roses and an apple tree trained into an arch, leading to a particularly sunny spot at the rear of the garden; the perfect place to enjoy drinks alfresco on warm summer evenings.
Out and About
Queens Park provides a wonderful pocket of greenery nearby, with its tennis courts, playground and children’s petting zoo. Paddington Recreation Ground is also close by, with a running track where Roger Bannister trained (renowned for his 4-minute mile), tennis courts, a nature trail and a children’s play area.
Several renowned secondary schools, such as University College School, South Hampstead, Channing, St Margarets and Arnold House, are around a 10-minute drive from the house. The highly-rated Mulberry House School, for younger children, is a short walk away. Also within walking distance are the excellent Malorees, Christchurch, North West London School, Emmanuel C of E Primary School and Beckford School.
The house is a short walk from Kilburn Underground station (Jubilee Line), Queens Park Underground station (Bakerloo Line) and Brondesbury Overground station. The A5 is close by for easy routes to the north circular and out of London.
Council Tax Band: G
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