Houses of artistic merit, whatever their size, have a perennial appeal for London buyers, provided the location is right. Proof of this is the £1m guide price quoted by Knight Frank for a 740sq ft working artist’s studio on the third floor of 18, Kensington Court Place, W8, at the junction of Court Place and the ever-desirable Thackeray Street, with its eclectic mix of shops and cafes.
The studio retains many period features and offers a unique space that not only stimulates creativity, but also provides adequate living space for a busy artist with his head in the clouds. A small but practical kitchen is tucked out of sight under the stairs and a large upstairs provides the perfect perch to enjoy another view of the city, create a bedroom separate from the main artistic space or view a piece of art from a different perspective.
At around the same time as the likes of Merritt were honing their skills in the nearby Tite Street, 18, Kensington Court Place provided the studio from which the illustrator and portrait painter Claude Allin Shepperson observed and captured for Punch’s readers the world of early-20th-century Kensington, which revolved around the drawing room, the nursery and the leafy green spaces of Kensington Gardens.
The new owner of this airy studio need not look further than the view from their windows for artistic inspiration. Nestled in the heart of Kensington, the wonders of the Natural History Museum, V&A and Hyde Park are quite literally on No. 18's doorstep. With the large north-west facing window flooding the entire apartment with natural light, it may be hard to tear one's eyes from the wonders of the outside world to the wonders of the canvas, but we have no doubt the future owner will endeavour to try.
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