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West End Penthouse For Sale, £1.5m
Nelson and lions as neighbours
THE NOISE from the 100,000 neighbours on New Year’s Eve
might be a bit of a nuisance and the droppings from the local
wildlife may inflate the window cleaning bills, but otherwise
a sitting room in London with a more desirable view would be
difficult to find.
Number 60 Trafalgar Square, built in 1865, made its debut on
the property market yesterday as the only private pied-a-terre
on the plaza. It boasts, among other features, eye-level views
of Admiral Lord Nelson on top of his column and the restaurants,
theatres and clubs of the West End as a backyard.
The four-storey building on the south side of the traffic-choked
public square is being offered with a penthouse over looking
Landseer’s lions and the National Gallery to the front
and Buckingham Palace from the rear.
Unsurprisingly, the price tag is aimed firmly at those within
the bulge-bracket who could afford to take advantage of having
such a connoisseur’s mecca as The Ivy as their local diner.
The top floor comes with a guide price of £1.5m and the
three lower floors, which have planning permission only as office
space, could be secured for an additional £3m.
Predictably, those marketing the property were stretching themselves
to find enough extravagant superlatives for their sales description.
Laurence Glynne, of estate agent LDG, which is jointly handling
the sale, said: “I have been selling property in the West
End for 15 years and there’s never been a property with
a view like this before. It gives a unique perspective on London
and there is nowhere else you could get such direct access to
the atmosphere of the West End. This is truly a unique property”.
Doubtless mindful of the purchasing power of any prospective
owner, the 1,534 sq ft penthouse with its own lift has been
converted into an empty loft-style shell ready for conversion
according to the wishes of the buyer. In the unlikely event
of needing a loan, he or she need only pop downstairs to the
ground floor, which is occupied by the Bristol & West Building
Society.
Despite having a front door of plywood plastered with Will
Young posters, No 60 has already attracted a Hong Kong-based
businessman who is interested in the top two floors for an undisclosed
price. Mr Glynne said he expected the eventual price for the
building to be a record for the area.
Toby Brookes, 39, an investment banker said: “The sheer
snob-value of saying you have breakfast with Admiral Nelson
makes it a price worth paying. You’d have clients queuing
up for invitations to dinner.”
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