A “rare” 10,000-square-foot house on a London street that’s almost as famous as the A-list actors known to have lived here is currently on the market for $33 million (£26.75 million). Ennismore Gardens has been home to a string of Hollywood stars, from Ava Gardner to Sir Michael Caine, and the street itself has even played feature roles in several movies and television series—including Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy and the original TV series The Avengers.
The stucco-fronted home comes complete with a quartet of neoclassical columns and wrought-iron balconies at its entrance. It is among a row of arresting Regency-style white terraced houses in Knightsbridge—one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the United Kingdom—and overlooks a square of gated communal gardens, with Hyde Park and Harrods a short walk away.
This house might look similar to its terraced neighbors, but its facade hides a secret: the home was completely rebuilt to modern standards six years ago with only its white frontage remaining original. Inside, the historic home exudes opulence, with large reception rooms framed by 10-foot ceilings for entertaining, and beautiful herringbone-style oak and white marble flooring throughout. Original features, such as the high period windows, decorative cornices, ceiling roses and chandeliers have been restored.
While most of the houses nearby have been converted into flats, this 10-bedroom home boasts not only the entire floorplan of the original house, but also a cavernous basement complete with a swimming pool, gym and cinema. Rarer still, the main house connects to a second property: a mews house with its own entrance via a quieter cobbled street.
Mews (or carriage) houses were originally built in proximity to large dwellings such as this to hold horses and carriages, with living accommodations for grooms and other servants built above. Most of these have since been built upon or redesigned, but Ennismore Garden Mews is largely intact. As a result, it is common to find photographers snapping scenes of this historic piece of London.
A pair of elevators connect the main house to the mews house. The main house contains eight bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom, and two large reception rooms open to a balcony overlooking the communal gardens. The adjoining mews house has its own entrance and garage as well as three bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room.
“The position and size of this house make it a rare find,” Jonathan Inglis, the listing agent with Strutt & Parker, told Observer—noting the home’s proximity to Hyde Park, and that the renovations are not something that many projects can match in terms of scale. “This house is almost unique because the infrastructure that links the full house—with a double lift on the basement and ground floor—allows for voluminous living spaces and seamless movement between the two.”
Actors Michael Caine and Terence Stamp famously shared a one-bedroom flat on this street in the 1960s. There is a Heritage England plaque commemorating long-time Ennismore Gardens resident Ava Gardner, who lived in a flat here from 1972 until she died in 1990. She was known to walk her corgis in the communal gardens and marked her doorbell with the name “Morgan” rather than Ava, after her favorite dog.
The price tag for this property might be sizeable, but in 2007 an eight-bedroom on Ennismore Gardens house sold for $19 million (£15.25 million), without the connecting mews house. Meanwhile, a similar mews house on Ennismore Mews (without the main house) sold for just over $4 million (£3.3 million) in 2021. Which begs the question: will any of 2023’s Hollywood A-listers have pockets deep enough to snap this home up?
