A £3.5 million townhouse that sparked a raging debate in the Country Life office

Nick Ashley-Cooper was a 24-year-old DJ in New York when his brother, Anthony, came to visit for a holiday. During that trip, Anthony tragically died of a heart attack. It was the second tragedy to hit the family in the space of a few months: Nick and Anthony's father had been murdered the year before, though at the time of Anthony's death the father's body had only recently been found at the bottom of a ravine in the south of France.

This might seem an odd place to start a story about a Georgian townhouse for sale on one of the smartest streets in London, but there's a reason for going off on this tangent. Nick's father had been the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury; Anthony had become the 11th Earl; and thus, at the age of 26 and living 3,000 miles from the family seat, Nick suddenly found himself becoming the 12th Earl. Rather than turn his back on he jumped in with both feet: 'I took my inheritance incredibly seriously and wanted to do a good job,' he told Country Life back in 2013. 'I have a strong sense of family and I've grown up incredibly proud of what my ancestors have achieved.'

Lord Shaftesbury quickly earned the right to be proud of what he achieved himself. His inheritance centred around the dilapidated St Giles House in the Dorset village of Wimborne St Giles, whose restoration and salvation he led with remarkable focus, dedication and panache. Instead of attempting to turn the clock back, he and his team of architects and builders restored the house in a way that didn't resurrect the fabric of the place to its original condition, but instead celebrated the beauty of it as it was.

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Thus the ancient portraits hang in rooms where the plaster has long since fallen away from the brickwork, where walls bear the marks from where long-broken mirrors once were, and where all that's left of the grand chandeliers are the wires that once held them from the ceilings.

The resulting work caused something of a sensation, winning pretty much every award going — among them the Georgian Group Award, the HHA/Sothebys Award and the RICS National Building Construction Award. It also inspired many other owners of period houses to do the same thing.

Today, it's not at all unusual to find homes where marks on the wall and cracks in the plaster are left untouched despite refurbishment work taking place, to keep the original character of a house. One such place, an art and antique dealer's home in New York which came up for sale in March, is particularly memorable.

That Manhattan home is probably the most extreme example we've ever seen — but the property at 61 Colebroke Row — a four-storey townhouse for sale at £3.5 million in a conservation area in Islington — runs it close. And it's sparked a huge debate in the Country Life office between those who have fallen head-over-heels in love with the place... and those who have done pretty much the opposite.

The house had lain derelict for many years before being bought in 2021 by the present owners, who've carried out a huge amount of work (the Google Streetview picture of what it used to look life from the outside gives a fair clue as to its condition).

The whole place has been gutted, rewired, re-fitted with top-end materials and expertise (including a Plain English kitchen and some incredibly smart bathroom suites).

There is underfloor heating beneath wonderfully-refurbished original floorboards, and even a 55-feet garden that's been designed by the great Dan Pearson.

That garden was apparently the starting point of the project, and Pearson based his layout around a beautiful old fig trees that had somehow survived years of neglect in this central London courtyard garden.

There's just over 2,000 square feet of space on off over the four storeys, with dining room and kitchen on the lower ground floor, and a reception room plus a study (or third bedroom) on the ground floor.

The two larger bedrooms each have a floor to themselves, and each has its own generously-sized bathroom. It is, in short, an ideal city pad in a much sought-after street where Boris Johnson lived while he was Mayor of London.

But as fascinating as the work that has been done is the work that hasn't been done. Some rooms have been plastered but left roughly unfinished, and several others have original timbers and walls that have been stripped right back but then left unpainted and unfinished.

Taking the stairs up from the ground floor, for example, the wall to one side of you is so blemished and scarred that it feels almost Dickensian.

We did also wonder something else: the shabby chic on display in the other examples in Wimborne St Giles and Manhattan contrast their intentionally-unfinished rooms with wall-to-wall art, from ancient portraits to modern pieces. The house on Colebrooke Row has sparse furnishings and almost nothing hanging on the walls.

That's not to say it isn't starkly beautiful. We doff our cap to the photographer Dan Glasser, whose pictures for estate agents Hemingway & K are breathtakingly beautiful, and could happily hang in a gallery. But there's no point ignoring the elephant in the room: some people might walk in and love the place, but an awful lot of others will wonder if the renovation budget ran out before the owners had a chance to go down to Farrow & Ball. It might be original and full of character, but what would it be like to live here on a cold night in February?

Rather than wonder, we put that question the way of the owners and agents, and while the work on the house is finished nobody has yet moved in: 'The house today is the result of a long and painstakingly detailed restoration, so, the house we are marketing has not been lived in,' says agent James Klonaris.

'The restoration was done by carefully chosen craftsman and in a manner that is befitting of the period,' adds Klonaris. 'This means lime plaster over lath and lime-wash finishes, the natural beauty of stripped wood stairs, rails, panels and architraves, and the mottled effect of hand-blown Georgian glass.'

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As for the lack of decoration? 'Some would argue that it is a more modern trend or fashion to cake our homes in non-breathable paints,' James adds. 'There is undoubtedly an increasing consideration in home renovation around harmful volatile organic compounds found in many modern paints and composite materials.

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'The design achieves a great balance of originality and comfort; exposing the layers of centuries and celebrating natural materials, but incorporating some wonderful contemporary punctuations.'

Though the house hasn't been lived in, Klonaris points out that the furniture and art that has been put in place has been done 'with fastidious attention to detail, to bring the spaces to life through carefully chosen pieces... They compliment shades and give light an intriguing canvas on which to fall. They also provide perspective so that the eye can gauge the spaces and volume....

'The owners have a wonderful art and furniture collections, and everything from antique to Mid-Century Modern and contemporary pieces have been chosen, really highlighting the versatility of this Georgian aesthetic.'

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And then there's that garden. 'The garden was actually the first part of the project to be completed, the first element from which everything else followed,' Koldaris explains.

'It is indeed a rare thing to have such a large and quiet garden in this central part of Islington...

'The creation of the garden was like sculpting in reverse; forming spaces for people within and around the huge snaking limbs of the unruly, but glorious fig trees. That first step, to create usable outside spaces and give the house the outlook it deserves, gave the owner a huge amount of hope at the start of what was inevitably going to be an Odyssean journey.'

No 61 Colebrooke Row is for sale at £3.5 million through Hemingway+K — see more details.