Homles Court - Gloucester Place W1 (Zone 1) - A history lesson

This full page advertisement caught my attention.  Holmes Court, very near Baker Street Tube Station, Zone 1 London.  The advertisement said 1,2,3 bedroom luxury apartments.  Given the location, it would be priced way out of our reach.  Yet, I thought it interesting enough to take a closer look.

If you are rich enough to consider buying multi-million dollar apartments in Central London, read on.  Even if you are not rich enough (aka like us), maybe you want to read on to learn about the history of this place.

The website link didn't give me very much information.  Only a page to register my interest.  So, I decided to go search for the Planning Permission documents.  Investors ought to know that these source documents are one of the best ways to find out more details about any project.

Small Luxury Development - Only 10 Units 
It didn't take long for me to find out that this was a very small, niche, luxury development, by a boutique developer called English Rose.  It was going to be a conversion into a small number of luxury units.  Going through the documents, I came across a most interesting Heritage Statement.  This place must be very historical!

Here is the Introduction to the Heritage Statement.  These buildings forms part of 'one of the most extensive and intact sequences of Georgian terraced homes in London' and lie within the Portman Estate Conservation Area, first designated by Westminster City Council in 1967.  Wow, fascinating!

Reading further, I discovered this map.  Check this out!  Detail from Potters Map of St Marylebone, 1832! The small box shaded in red somewhere in the middle of the map indicates the location of this plot.  I wonder what Singapore was like in 1832!

History of the Building
The building of Gloucester Place (named after William, Duke of Gloucester) formed part of the large scale development of the Portman Estate in the wake of the building of the New Road (Marylebone Road) in 1757.  The centrepieces were Portman Square (laid out in 1764) and Manchester Square (1776).  The laying out of the main north-south avenues to the north of Portman Square (Baker Street and the present Gloucester Place) followed soon afterwards, but the development took place incrementally, with builders and speculators putting up terraces of 'first' and 'second' rate houses, with 'third' rate houses in the side streets.

Speculators?  Looks like things haven't changed much.  Plenty of speculators (ok, sometimes we call them investors) in the property market today, just as there were many speculators back then!

Records show that the original 99-year building leases for numbers 105 and 107 were issued to Porter from 25 March 1805, and that his actual lease for both of them was dated 11 July 1807.  Fascinating - 99 year leases!  Development of the estate was completed by 1820, and is shown in detail in the above map where the present no. 105 is identified in red under its original number no. 71.

There are drainage plans in Westminster Archives for the property dating fro 1891 (when the owner fo the lease was a Mr Brougham).  In 1907, when the original leases expired, nos. 105 and 107 were owned by Edward White of 20 Upper Berkeley Street, who took a further 25-year lease in that year.  (This Mr White must have been quite rich!).  When the leases came up for renewal in 1933, nos. 107 and 105 went to different people.

Nos. 105 and 107 Gloucester Place first appear in the directories as one property in 1966, occupied by the Federation of Women Zionists.  During the course of WIZO's ownership of the two properties major alterations were carried out in the course of conversion.

Exterior of the House

This shows the front of number 105.  Each house is of four storeys, over a basement, three bays wide and built of London stock brick laid in Flemish bond.   A lot more details can be found in the heritage document.

Let's take a look inside.  The original plan form conformed to the common town house plan of one large front room and a smaller back room at ground and first floor level, with a higher degree of compartmentation at basement, second and third floor levels.  I can only conclude that townhouses in that era were really big!

This is the first floor front room.

The report states that these houses are of high architectural significance.  The building is of high townscape significance and high historical significance.  All this simply means that the builders can't just knock down the building, or do anything they wanted to it.  They must conserve and preserve!

The next two diagrams shows you the townhouse, from the front as well as the side.  Rather big yah?

Side view.

Building Flats
Recall, these units started off as houses for a couple of hundred of years, then were converted to offices by the Federation of Women Zionists.  Now, they are going to be brought back to residential use, converted into 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments.

On the ground floor, the main front and back rooms will become a one-bedroom apartment.  Vertical conversion of the rear closet wing (ground to second floor) to a two-bedroom apartment is proposed.  At the front of the house at first floor level, the front and back rooms will form a one bedroom apartment.

At the second floor level, a two-bedroom apartment is proposed.  At third floor level, a three-bedroom apartment is proposed.

So, one house will yield 5 apartments, i.e. 2 X 1 bed, 2 X 2 bed and 1 X 3 bed.  Two houses will yield 10 apartments.

Oh, do remember, there will be no lifts! (no elevators!)

Where is my lift?

Happy Investing!

Important Disclaimer - . The views contained in this blog and blog post are entirely mine. We cannot be made responsible for any investment decisions you may, or may not, take. Nothing in this blog can be construed as professional investment advice, as we are NOT professional investors and we are ill qualified to give you any advice.  Read the blog at YOUR own risk