Property of the Week: Interior designer Elspeth Lynn sells her home in Bayswater that’s an homage to Gatsby glamour
For some people, making a house a home is fun, but for others it’s a chore. Especially – as is the case in many of central London’s most desirable postcodes – if it’s not even your main residence.
If you don’t have time for a fixer upper, simply buy an interior designer’s flat. As luck would have it, this one owned by designer Elspeth Lynn is on sale in Westbourne Terrace, Bayswater. And it’s not for the wallflowers.
A mixture of old-school luxury found in prestige hotels and Gatsby glamour, it’s covered in covetable materials like gold, brass, marble and honey onyx.
The result is a Grade II Listed apartment that’s packed with period features, yet you can move in after completion and not have to lift a finger. Lynn took 10 months to renovate the 1,528sqft, two bedroom apartment. “When I first walked in, I could see that the apartment had so much potential and I believe if you listen and look carefully, spaces let you know what needs to be done to them,” she says. Clearly this flat was squarking like a magpie because it’s filled with shiny surfaces, from Clement London iron and glass doors to the gold wallpaper in the entrance hall.
A bathroom in gold and honey oynx
Art Deco finishes are everywhere, featuring in the guest bathroom’s centred windows and the entrance hall’s light fittings. Calacutta smothers the kitchen work surfaces, the black and white chequered floors and the entire bathtub.
Lynn also commissioned some furnishing to be created bespoke for the apartment, including mirrored cabintry with brass handles, black and bronze carpet with brass trim for the grand drawing room, fitted wardrobes and Venetian plastered walls for the guest bathroom.
The fireplace, oak parquet flooring and original sash windows remain to give a sense of the property’s grand history. Westbourne Terrace, named after the local River Westbourne, was one of the grandest streets in Bayswater when it was built in 1840, home to Admirals and Lord Chancellors. This flat is converted from one of a long row of white-stuccoed, four-storey terraces, with pillared porches, facing carriage drives. A few minutes’ walk from Paddington station, with its direct links to Heathrow Airport, it comes fitted modern luxuries such as underfloor heating and a designated parking space.
Gold bedroom
Selling agent Joe Le Beau from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Kay & Co, says it’s rare to see an apartment ‘dressed to impress’ like this one and he expects it to attract an American or Middle Eastern buyer looking for a pied-a-terre.
Call 0207 262 2030 or visit kayandco.com for more information