One of the most expensive houses likely to come on the market this spring is 23 Ailesbury Road, a Victorian terraced house with exceptional reception rooms, six bedrooms and potential for a mews.
Finnegan Menton will auction the property on March 24th, when the selling agent, Iain Finnegan, expects a price in excess of £1.5 million.
The owners bought it around 10 years ago when period houses on the road typically changed hands for £300,000 to £400,000. Set in a terrace of four houses, Number 23 is located directly across the road from the former Japanese Embassy, a two-storey detached house that sold last year for a record £2.95 million at auction. Number 23 is one of the large redbrick two-storey over garden level houses which were among the first to be built when the road was laid out by the Pembroke Estate in 1870.
As a terraced house, it appears slightly smaller than its semi-detached neighbours but, in fact, it is an extremely spacious home with around 4,300 sq ft of living space.
The main bedroom suite alone is larger than most modern one-bedroom apartments, while the drawingroom and diningroom open up to make one superb 40 ft long room. The hallway is particularly impressive, with its intricate plasterwork and fine mahogany staircase. The drawingroom and dining room are lovely, light-filled rooms with twin sash windows to the front and a triple window overlooking the back garden. Both rooms are painted a rich yellow and have polished timber floors. The original marble fireplaces are fitted with coal-effect gas fires. The first of the bedrooms is at hall level in the return, and it has a full bathroom next door.
The first floor landing has double doors leading to another large double bedroom that overlooks the back garden. On the first floor, the main bedroom suite at the front of the house includes a large bathroom and a dressing area. There is another very large double bedroom at this level and, like the main bedroom, it has an original grey marble fireplace.
Steps lead up to the top return, where there is a fifth bedroom and another bathroom. The sixth bedroom is on the ground floor and is currently used as a store room. Next door is a spacious guest lavatory.
Also at garden level is the large kitchen, which has French doors to the garden. The parquet flooring is attractive but the units will probably be replaced by new owners.
Leading off the kitchen is a large family room.
There is separate access to the garden level and the under-stairs space houses the central heating boiler. The south-facing back garden is a reasonable size and it also has potential for mews development. A walled-off parking area has new wooden gates opening on to a rear access lane and a large green area where there are plans for a small development of two-storey houses.
