A five-storey, 18th-century townhouse that doubled as Roscoe’s dog grooming salon in the 2021 film Cruella is for sale for £2.35 million.
The film, starring Emma Stone, featured the Grade II-listed Bloomsbury house with its original curved shopfront (advertising its days as a watch repair store) packed with dalmatians.
It is at the house that Cruella’s henchmen kidnap Baroness von Hellman’s (played by Emma Thompson) dalmatians, intending to turn them into a coat.
Number 8 Duke’s Road is on a quiet, cobbled street with Dickensian bow-fronted buildings.
It has had more cinema appearances than most, serving as a film location for The Aeronauts, with Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, Pennyworth with Paloma Faith, Poirot, Christopher Robin and, most recently, Living, starring Bill Nighy.
“The street is a gem in central London,” says Chelsea Whelan at listing agents Knight Frank. “It is easily transformed into a backdrop for costume dramas.
“The location managers and production staff love Duke’s Road for the versatility of the bow windows to dress them as undertakers, saunas, cake shops, clock repairs and dog grooming salons for many different types of drama: murder mysteries, fantasy, romance — all sorts.”
The “remarkable” house covers almost 2,500 sq ft of space, with four bedrooms, two reception rooms and two bathrooms.
Once a watch and clock repair shop, the bottom floor hosts a one-bedroom apartment with a private entrance. Adjoined to the main house, it can be retained as accommodation or rented separately.
The main kitchen is on the lower ground level, although there is also a kitchenette on the floor above.
The bedrooms are scattered throughout the four upper floors, with the master bedroom and main bathroom occupying the third.
A courtyard garden, roof terrace and Juliet balcony provide outdoor space.
Designed by master Thomas Cubitt —famous for his constructions in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury— in 1822, much of the property’s original architecture still stands today.
As well as its wooden floors, fireplaces and high ceilings, the house retains its panelled front door and brass knocker, casement windows and working cast iron stove in the top floor bedroom.
“We have lived in the house for 24 years and love it for its quirkiness, the light that comes in, and the street’s beautiful façade,” say the current owners, who have enjoyed seeing their home take on different guises over the years.
“You can leave your house in the morning in the 21st Century and come back at lunchtime and be in 18th century or war-torn London. It can be very surreal. As soon as you blink, it’s all taken down.”
