A beautiful home with a secret garden that's an exquisite oasis in what was once one of the roughest corners of London
Drawing on the area's industrial and manufacturing heritage, this five-storey house on Wilkes Street is also a horticultural paradise.
A stone’s throw from the chaos of the City and the bustle of Liverpool Street is a network of streets that feels mercifully stuck in time. A portal to the 17th century, when hoards of Huguenots descended upon London fleeing religious persecution, the cobbled alleys that make up the area known as Spitalfields are among the most beautiful in the capital.
Rental opportunities are rare, and sales even rarer. Once you buy here, you stay here: be you Tracey Emin, Gilbert & George, or another artistic grandee who's been lucky enough to call this patch their stomping ground for the past three decades (or longer). But an opportunity has just arisen in the form of this house on Wilkes Street, which is on the market at £4.75 million through the Unique Property Company.
Like stepping back in time: the dining room at Wilkes Street, with Delft tiles framing the fireplace, ticks all the right boxes.
Wilkes Street, which runs parallel to bustling Commercial Road and draws together Hanbury and Fournier Streets, is among the most picture-perfect in the district. With red brick façades, outdoor shop signage from 18th century and sash windows painted black, red or sage, it could easily feel like a toy town were it not for the rough edges that still lend the area that little bit of grit — a reminder of its past a centre for slum housing (when its fortunes turned in the 19th and early 20th centuries) as well as a welcome departure from fellow post-gentrified neighbourhoods on the western edge of Zone One, which some might describe as over-manicured.
The house now for sale on Wilkes Street is a Grade II-listed townhouse dating back to 1720. It was, for 150 years, a furrier’s factory — a time when much of its fine detailing was hidden away. This has since been rediscovered and restored, bringing to life a home that thrums with history and embodies, on each of its five floors, different elements of the English architectural character.
Unfolding over 2,244 sq ft and on the market for £4.75 million, it is one of few homes that still retains an original weavers' loft (the Huguenots who settled in the area were highly skilled cloth merchants). Hawksmoor’s Christ Church, one of London's most magnificent churches, can be seen from the makeshift balcony jetting out from the top floor.
'Ground–floor shutters, door casements and canopy are a faithful reproduction of the joinery that would once have hugged the deep red brickwork,' say the agents, while 'the heavy panelled front door appears to be original.'
Even the principal bathroom at Wilkes Street, directly adjoining the master bedroom on the second floor, has been sensitively designed to replicate the character of eras past.
Not every original feature has survived. A fanlight which is likely to have sat in the living room has since been replaced with a leaded light. The current owners, however, have been careful to preserve as much of the building's history as possible. Boxed-in candle arrangements hark to a pre-electric passé while original fireplaces and floorboards still course throughout the house — safe for the lower-ground floor, decked out in handsome York stone.
There are four bedrooms overall, two of which are in the attic floor — although Unique Property Company notes that applications for an additional bedroom could easily be put forward (and has been done in the past). There are three bathrooms and as many reception rooms: a home as perfect for entertaining as it is for living.
No doubt the pièce de résistance, however, is the walled garden at the rear of the house, accessed via bridge across two ornamental ponds. It is, per Unique Property Company, 'a small world of its own'. At the far end, a beautifully time-worn door opens into a storage room, 'once part of the night soil alley that slipped along the backs of the houses,' the sales agent notes. It now presents future owners with an opportunity for renovation. Let us hope they keep this sensitive.
For sale through The Unique Property Company at £4.75 million — see more details.
This is an expanded profile of a property on Wilkes Street which first appeared in Country Life's 'Seven of the best' spread on May 6, 2026. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
