If you're looking for your next big project, this seven-bedroom mid-century townhouse on the market for £5.75 million could be calling to you.
Located on Gloucester Square in Bayswater, the 1950s property appears to have been almost completely gutted, leaving a blank canvas for the new owner.
Thankfully, a lot of the original details have been left unscathed, including the authentic wooden panelling in the main reception room.
It would require deep pockets to get it back into a habitable state, but there are less barriers to fixing up this fixer upper than one might expect, say estate agents Knight Frank.
"The fact that this property is not Listed opens up the opportunity for the owners and architect to really get creative," Laura Dam Villena, Head of Sales in Knight Frank’s Hyde Park told Homes & Property.
"The added benefit of permitted development to implement a lift would increase the saleability of the house as this, alongside benefits of being a Freeholder, opens up the property to a wider age demographic."
Historic documents suggest the terraced townhouse and its next door neighbour were built some time in the 1950s, as part of a development replacing the original 19th-century buildings that was paused when the Second World War broke out.
The townhouse has four storeys from the ground up, along with a lower ground floor with access to a private garden. A spiral staircase connects the garden to the ground floor.
On the first floor, a Juliette balcony spans the width of the property, accessed by French doors in the wood-panelled main reception room.
The garden square is visible across the road from the balcony, and as freeholder the owner will have access to this coveted green space. And of course, Hyde Park is just around the corner.
Some of the rooms have been stripped back to the walls and joists, while others still have painted panels and built-in bookshelves in situ.
The house was originally listed for £5.95 million, and has had £250,000 knocked off the asking price.
Sales in prime central London have been slow recently, with asking prices for £5 million-plus properties reduced across the capital to attract buyers.
However, Knight Frank said this could be about to change with the revised forecast for the market in 2024.
“There is a definite surge in interest in prime houses in W2, having recently sold two prime houses to individuals who will be working in the new office space in Paddington Square," said Dam Villena.
Bayswater has become a hotbed of development recently, with the historic Whiteley's department store undergoing the process of being turned into over 130 new residences.
Developers have also just won planning permission to turn the abandoned Avegard Hotel into 11 apartments.
