With ‘Bridgerton perfect’ drawing rooms that have entertained Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, and four Prime Ministers, a grand 8,897 sq. ft Grade II Listed six bedroom Georgian house on Wimpole Street for sale with Dexters Marylebone.
Originally built in 1767 for MP Humphrey Minchin, the house served as the London residence of Richard Howard, 4th Earl of Effingham between 1789 and 1814. Under the Earl the house entertained Queen Charlotte, the Prince Regent and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, and under the current owner, the house has hosted three 21st century Prime Ministers, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May and Liz Truss and other politicians including Michael Gove, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Sir Graham Brady.
The story of the house really begins in 1784 when aristocrat Richard Howard, was appointed as Private Secretary and Comptroller of the Household to Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III. Richard required a London home for entertaining so in 1789 he purchased the house on Wimpole Street in Marylebone, then the new fashionable area for nobles wishing to live close to both the Court of King George III and Queen Charlotte, and the Prince Regent.
The house was serving as an office for the William Pears Group in the early 1990s. With false ceilings and office lighting installed, raised floors overlaying the Georgian originals and the property lacking a proper family kitchen and bathrooms.
Fast forward to October 1996 the current owners purchased the house and began a meticulous restoration programme to return the accommodation to its original Georgian character and use it as a spacious London family home.
Providing accommodation over lower ground, ground and four upper floors, the house offers direct access to the mews via the lower ground level which extends under the garden. The principal rooms took 24 months to return to their original Georgian splendour with false floors and ceilings carefully stripped away and the beautiful interiors lovingly restored to their former glory.
The entrance hall features a grand Portland stone cantilevered staircase which rises through all the principal floors, with windows to each landing, surmounted by a stained glass skylight, allowing natural light to cascade through the stairwell below.
Off the entrance hall there is a formal dining room which has a Regency fireplace, Oak flooring, Pine wood wall panelling and a ‘secret door’ which connects to the adjoining family kitchen. The large light-flooded family kitchen and breakfast room has a central island, Sienna marble fireplace and a three window bay overlooking the garden and mews house, with one window designed as a ‘hidden door’, allowing access into the garden.
The two beautiful interconnecting drawing rooms on the first floor are like stepping onto the set of Bridgerton with classic Georgian interiors including parquet flooring, 14ft ceilings with Georgian coving and ceiling mouldings, tall sash windows, Regency fireplaces and classic Georgian pastel-blue walls and ceilings.
The principal bedroom suite occupies its own private floor on the second level of the house, with a spacious bedroom, walk-in dressing room and a main bathroom. There are four further bedrooms, a further shower room and a bathroom on the two uppermost floors.
The lower ground floor provides a studio, study and family room leading to the lower level of the mews which has a cocktail bar/entertaining room, cinema, sauna with showers and as well as a room with an original well, providing water for the garden.
The ground floor of the mews is currently utilized as a large open plan office with adjoining garaging for two cars and bicycles. However, it could easily be reinstated to provide garaging for six cars which is extremely rare in central London and is likely to appeal to both supercar and classic car enthusiasts alike.
James Staite, Director of Dexters Marylebone says: “Located between Oxford Street and Regents Park, period houses in Marylebone offer better value than those in neighbouring Mayfair and Belgravia. The house provides substantial accommodation with immense history in a prime location.”
