Cornwall Terrace
1–21 Cornwall Terrace in 2010
1–21 Cornwall Terrace in 2010
Cornwall Terrace is located in City of Westminster
Cornwall Terrace
Location in Westminster
General information
TypeHistoric building with several mansions
Architectural styleGreco-Roman
AddressCornwall Terrace Mews, City of Westminster, London NW1, UK
Town or cityLondon Borough of Westminster, Greater London
CountryEngland
Coordinates51°31′27″N 0°9′27″W / 51.52417°N 0.15750°W / 51.52417; -0.15750
Groundbreaking1821
Completed1823
Renovated1980

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] The buildings are Grade I listed buildings.[2]

History

Cornwall Terrace was one of the earliest buildings constructed in Regency Park,[5] and the park's first completed terrace.[6] The terrace was constructed, between 1821 and 1823, by the property developer James Burton, to a Greco-Roman design by Decimus Burton and Sir John Nash.[2][7][8] After the Second World War, the terrace was refurbished. It became a Grade I listed building on 9 January 1970.[2]

In January 1975, hippie groups moved in and squatted the entire terrace.[9] The Divine Light Mission opened up a health food store.[10] Later in 1975, after the squatters were evicted, the terrace became the headquarters of British Land, a large property development company.[6]

In the 2000s, much of the terrace was refurbished by Oakmayne Developers, who turned 18 of the houses into 8 luxury residences.[11] The refurbishment of eight mansions was overseen by English Heritage and the Crown Estate. Each home was given the name of a notable person connected to the terrace.[12]

Architecture

Cornwall Terrace in 1828

Architectural features give the building a regal appearance. The ground storey is rusticated, while the principal storeys 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]

No. 1

Cornwall Terrace in 2022; number 1 is on the right

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]

No. 1 was the home of the New Zealand High Commissioner from 1955 until the mid-1970s;[citation needed] Sir Clifton Webb was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to live here.

By 2002, it belonged to telecommunications entrepreneur Charles Wigoder. Oakmayne Developers bought the mansion in 2007. When they refurbished it, two extra floors were added in the basement by digging 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) below the original basement.[3]

Moza bint Nasser, the consort of a former Emir of Qatar bought numbers 1, 2 and 3 Cornwall Terrace in 2013 for an estimated £120 million.[13] The following year, a planning application was made to merge the three properties into one 34,155 square foot home.[14] The plan for a super-mansion with 17 bedrooms, 14 lounges, four dining rooms, a swimming pool, a cinema and a cigar lounge was recommended for refusal and withdrawn.[15]

No. 6

No. 6 was put on sale in 2011 for £39 million. The refurbishment included marble floors, a £60,000 fireplace and a hydraulically operated lift.[16]

No. 9 – Siddons House

Pramod Agarwal bought No. 9 from Christian Candy for £37.5 million in October 2013 and was later forced to sell it. The residence is made from two townhouses knocked together in the 2000s.[17] Since its refurbishment it is known as Siddons House after Mary Frances Scott-Siddons, who complained to the Prince Regent about the plans for Cornwall Terrace ruining her views of the park from Upper Baker Street.[12]

No. 11 – Silk House

Silk House (No. 11) was judged the Evening Standard's best new luxury home in 2011. It has a gym with spa, library, vault, five bedrooms, six reception rooms and staff quarters.[18] It is named after former resident James Silk Buckingham.

No. 13

The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation has been based at Nos. 13–14 since 1993. It was formerly the home of Arthur Lasenby Liberty.[19]

No. 17

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists was based at No. 17 from 1993 until 2014.[20]

No. 18/19

Numbers 18 and 19 are owned by Vijay Mallya, who is subject to an extradition request by the Indian Government for various financial crimes.[21] In 2018, he claimed that the property did not belong to him but his mother. Banks wanting to claim his assets found that the property was owned by a British Virgin Islands-based company called RCV, which is owned by Gladco Properties, which is owned by Continental Administration Service Ltd (CASL). CASL is a trustee of the Sileta Trust, which is a Mallya family trust.[22] UBS Group AG pursued an order for possession in November 2018, seeking to evict Mallya, his son Sidhartha and his 95-year-old mother Lalitha Devi. The bank claimed that the five-year £20.4 million mortgage had not been repaid. The judge threw out Mallya's arguments and set a trial for May 2019.[23]

Mallya then negotiated a settlement with UBS and the trial was vacated. According to the terms of the agreement, Mallya can remain in the property and if the mortgage is not repaid by April 2020, UBS have a right to immediate possession. Mallya must also pay the interest of £820,333 accrued up to April 2019 plus any further amount accrued up to 1 May 2020. He was also instructed to pay legal costs of £1,047,081 and receivers' costs of £223,863. Mallya is still appealing his extradition to India.[24]

No.20 – Lethbridge House

Lethbridge House (No.20) is a six bedroom house with swimming pool, gym, steam room, cinema and ballroom. It was put on sale in 2012 for £48 million.[25] It is named after former resident Roper Lethbridge.

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. ^ a b c d e Historic England. "1–21 Cornwall Terrace (1356971)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Terraced street on sale for £400 million". The Telegraph. London. 2010. Archived from the original on 28 November 2010.
  4. ^ a b c "World's most expensive house up for sale at 100 million pounds". India Times. 2 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  5. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Weinreb, Christopher Hibbert Ben; Keay, John & Julia (2012). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd ed.). Pan Macmillan. p. 208. ISBN 9780230738782. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  7. ^ "Entry for Burton, Decimus, in Dictionary of Scottish Architects". Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  8. ^ "James Burton [Haliburton]", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  9. ^ Wates, N; Wolmar, C (1980). Squatting the Real Story. London. p. 40. ISBN 0-9507259-0-0.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ "London Baker Street Cornwall Terrace squat (1976)". www.laslett.info. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  11. ^ Ashworth, Anne (16 September 2011). "Big, beautiful, in shades of grey – and starting at £26m". Times. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Cornwall Terrace, Regents Park". Building Centre. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  13. ^ Ellyatt, Holly (30 January 2015). "Qatari royals' hopes for London palace crumble". CNBC. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  14. ^ Bloomfield, Ruth (12 December 2014). "Supersize my home: London now a hotspot for 'monster houses'". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  15. ^ Booth, Robert; Clark, Tim (29 January 2015). "Westminster council rejects Qatari royal family's plans for £200m palace". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  16. ^ Middleton, Christopher (13 January 2011). "The world's most expensive terrace". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  17. ^ Prynn, Jonathan; Watts, Matt (8 April 2016). "Tycoon sells opulent London home after slump in his fortune". Evening Standard. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  18. ^ Spittles, David (12 May 2011). "London Evening Standard New Homes Awards 2011: the winners". Homes & Property. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  19. ^ "Background to Daiwa Foundation Japan House". Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. DAJF. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  20. ^ "College News" (PDF). Royal College of Ophthalmologists. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  21. ^ Shashank, Bengali; Parth, M. N. (18 April 2017). "India's former 'King of Good Times,' beer baron Vijay Mallya, is arrested in London". Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  22. ^ Saikia, Gogona (11 July 2018). "Mallya says his UK properties aren't his.So whose are they?". Yahoo News India. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  23. ^ Canton, Naomi (23 November 2018). "UK judge throws out most of Mallya's arguments as he makes desperate bid to hang on to London mansion". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  24. ^ "Vijay Mallya settles for more time with Swiss bank to pay off mortgage for plush London home". First Post. Press Trust of India. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  25. ^ Prynn, Jonathan. "£48m for the Regent's Park house with swimming pool and ballroom. £3m extra for the paintings". Evening Standard. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
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