WE shape our buildings; thereafter our buildings shape us,' declared Winston Churchill in 1943, insisting on the reconstruction of the bomb-damaged Commons Chamber to its 'old form, convenience and dignity'. More than 20 years earlier, as Secretary of State for War, he was ensconced in the Old War Office on Whitehall, a stately edifice completed in 1906, sold off by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2016, and now being revitalised as top-notch apartments, restaurants and Raffles's first flagship hotel in Britain known as The OWO (Property comment, July 21, 2021).
As the armed forces modernise and outmoded property is unloaded from Government estates, what is superfluous to needs often translates as architectural treasure for the discerning developer. But there are many factors to consider, including condition, heritage designations, location, communal services, how recently it was mothballed, former use and existing monuments.
Living in a place with military provenance carries a certain cachet; 20 of the 85 apartments in The OWO, due to be completed in a few months' time, have already sold. 'It's extraordinarily impressive,' says Adam Simmonds of residential development sales at Savills. There's even an old spies' entrance on Whitehall Court.' T. E. Lawrence and Ian Fleming once walked the unusually wide corridors here, designed to accommodate a considerable workforce (which even included messengers on bicycles).
Denne historien er fra June 01, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 01, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Give it some stick
Galloping through the imagination, competitive hobby-horsing is a gymnastic sport on the rise in Britain, discovers Sybilla Hart
Paper escapes
Steven King selects his best travel books of 2024
For love, not money
This year may have marked the end of brag-art’, bought merely to show off one’s wealth. It’s time for a return to looking for connoisseurship, beauty and taste
Mary I: more bruised than bloody
Cast as a sanguinary tyrant, our first Queen Regnant may not deserve her brutal reputation, believes Geoffrey Munn
A love supreme
Art brought together 19th-century Norwich couple Joseph and Emily Stannard, who shared a passion for painting, but their destiny would be dramatically different
Private views
One of the best ways-often the only way-to visit the finest privately owned gardens in the country is by joining an exclusive tour. Non Morris does exactly that
Shhhhhh...
THERE is great delight to be had poring over the front pages of COUNTRY LIFE each week, dreaming of what life would be like in a Scottish castle (so reasonably priced, but do bear in mind the midges) or a townhouse in London’s Eaton Square (worth a king’s ransom, but, oh dear, the traffic) or perhaps that cottage in the Cotswolds (if you don’t mind standing next to Hollywood A-listers in the queue at Daylesford). The estate agent’s particulars will give you details of acreage, proximity to schools and railway stations, but never—no, never—an indication of noise levels.
Mission impossible
Rubble and ruin were all that remained of the early-19th-century Villa Frere and its gardens, planted by the English diplomat John Hookham Frere, until a group of dedicated volunteers came to its rescue. Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe tells the story
When a perfect storm hits
Weather, wars, elections and financial uncertainty all conspired against high-end house sales this year, but there were still some spectacular deals
Give the dog a bone
Man's best friend still needs to eat like its Lupus forebears, believes Jonathan Self, when it's not guarding food, greeting us or destroying our upholstery, of course
