Cornwall Terrace

Cornwall Terrace
Location in Westminster
General information
Type Historic building with several mansions
Architectural style Greco-Roman
Address Cornwall Terrace Mews, City of Westminster, London NW1, UK
Town or city London Borough of Westminster, Greater London
Country England
Coordinates 51°31′27″N 0°9′27″W / 51.52417°N 0.15750°W / 51.52417; -0.15750
Groundbreaking 1821
Completed 1823
Renovated 1980

Cornwall Terrace (also 1-21 Cornwall Terrace) is a Grade I listed building of consecutive terraced mansions overlooking Regent's Park in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated at the park's southwest corner, near Baker Street, between York Terrace and Clarence Terrace,[1] within the park's Crown Estate development.[2] Cornwall Terrace was part of the scheme of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, to develop grand housing in Regent's Park.[3][4]

History

Cornwall Terrace was one of the earliest buildings constructed in Regency Park,[5] and the park's first completed terrace.[6] Construction occurred between 1821 and 1823 by the builder and developer, James Burton. The design was by his son, Decimus Burton, though Sir John Nash was responsible for the main lines, Greco-Roman in style, and supervised construction.[2] After the Second World War, the terrace was refurbished. It became a Grade I listed building on 9 January 1970.[2]

Architecture

Architectural features give the building a regal appearance. The ground story is rusticated, while the principal stories are of the Corinthian order. The terrace block originally consisted of 19 houses, with Nos. 20 and 21 constructed later from the south pavilion. The original design contained three main storeys, an attic storey, pavilions, mansards, and basements, as well as shallow porches, square headed doorways, shallow architraves, first floor cornices, balustraded parapets, wings with Venetian-style windows, cast iron balconies, and spearhead area railings.[2] There are fluted shafts, well proportioned capitals, and an entablature,[5] No. 1 was adorned with a caryatid-bow.[6] At the westernmost end, No. 10 was provided with bow windows which continued up over two stories.[2]

No. 1

No. 1 Cornwall Terrace is 21,500 square feet (2,000 m2) in size.[4] It has seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a hydraulic elevator, and 11 reception rooms; it is described as a "Trophy Home".[4] The interior consists of hardwood floors and doors, Italian marble, period fireplaces, cornices,[3] a spa, heated swimming pool set in Portland stone, a dining room which can accommodate 16 people, and light switches controlled by an iPad.[7] No. 1 was the home of the New Zealand High Commissioner from 1955 until the mid-1970s;[7] Sir Clifton Webb was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to live here. In January 1975, hippie groups moved in, degraded it to a squat, and opened up a health food store.[7] After the hippies left, later in the same year, it became the headquarters of British Land,[7] a large property development company.[6]

By 2002, it belonged to telecommunications entrepreneur Charles Wigoder.[7] Oakmayne Developers, who bought the mansion in 2007, refurbished it; the refurbishing was overseen by the English Heritage and the Crown Estate, to give the property an appropriate makeover. During the refurbishing process, two extra floors were added in the basement by digging 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) below the original basement.[3] In November 2012, the mansion was on the market for £100 million, making it one of the most expensive properties in the world,[7] and in March 2013, it was bought for £80 million by property mogul Marcus Cooper.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Elmes, James (1831). A Topographical Dictionary of London and Its Environs: Containing Descriptive and Critical Accounts of All the Public and Private Buildings, Offices, Docks, Squares, Streets, Lanes, Wards, Liberties, Charitable, Scholastic and Other Establishments, with Lists of Their Officers, Patrons, Incumbents of Livings, &c. &c. &c. in the British Metropolis (Public domain ed.). Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot. pp. 150–. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "1-21 Cornwall Terrace". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 "Terraced street on sale for £400 million". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 "World's most expensive house up for sale at 100 million pounds". The Economic Times. 2 November 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  5. 1 2 Timbs, John (1829). The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Volume 13 (Public domain ed.). The University of California. p. 306. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 Weinreb, Christopher Hibbert Ben; Keay, John & Julia (2012). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd Edition). Pan Macmillan. p. 208. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Powell, Laura; Hill, Emily (3 November 2012). "Would you pay £100m for a terraced house? Former Squat on the market boasting 11 receptions rooms, spa, 'wine cave' and lights controlled by an iPad". Daily Mail. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  8. ↑ Britain's most expensive terraced home sells for record breaking £80m (and that's after knocking £20m off the asking price) Daily Mail, 11 March 2013.Retrieved 12 March 2013.
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