The former home and gallery of Sir Henry Tate – where he hung his artwork before he founded the Tate Britain — is up for sale in Streatham
Talk about art history. Sir Henry Tate's former mansion has a 'prototype Tate Gallery' — which, although no longer adorned by his works of art, is still impressive.


Before founding the first Tate gallery in 1897 (now known as Tate Britain), Sir Henry Tate hung his collection of (then) contemporary British art in a spectacular double-height Grade II*-listed former billiard room, beneath an enormous original skylight, at his home — an 1835 mansion by Streatham Common on what is now known as Henry Tate Mews (formerly Park Hill).
Currently on the market via Hamptons at an asking price of £1.8 million, the property has eclectic, grand interiors, with the decorative billiard room taking centre stage, with its double-heigh room, mezzanine floor reached via a spiral staircase and decorative ceiling cornices.
In total, the accommodation spans to 3,400 sq ft of living space in a privately owned estate at the top of Streatham Common.
The private gated development’s six communal acres include a listed folly, grotto and orchard and No 12 itself was beautifully redeveloped in 2000; it has five double bedrooms, three en suite, two private terraces and a very smart kitchen/breakfast room.
Henry Tate Mews is currently for sale for £1.8 million via Hamptons — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details.
Streatham Common: What you need to know
Location: In South London, in the borough of Lambeth. Streatham station is less than a mile from the property, which offers services to London Blackfriars in approximately 20 minutes.
Atmosphere: The property itself it set amongst six acres of private landscaped gardens, and offers a peaceful environment amongst city living.
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Things to do: Enjoy walks around Streatham Common and through The Rookery, or take a short journey into the centre of the capital for theatres, restaurants, museums and bars.
Schools: There are a number of well-regarded schools in the area including St. Andrews, Julians School, Immanuel & St Andrews and Dunraven Secondary School.
See more property for sale in the area.
Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.
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