A bare bones flat within a prestigious Westminster building once home to James Bond’s ‘M’ has gone on sale for £4.85 million.
Few London landmarks have a legacy to rival Whitehall Court, the Thameside grande dame which for decades functioned as the base of the Secret Intelligence Service — now better known as MI6.
It was also home to its inaugural chief and ‘M’ inspiration Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, whose bombproof penthouse on the seventh and eighth floor went up for sale three years ago — and later made a cameo in 2021 Bond instalment No Time to Die.
This third floor apartment may not have the same spy heritage, but it offers a rare blank canvas for a buyer with big ideas and deep pockets.
Proposed works include rewiring and fixing the plumbing, but currently the 2,500 square foot apartment is in a near-shell state.
Images snapped during works show an interior stripped back to its Victorian bones, with missing skirting boards, peeling plasterwork and bare underlay. Ceilings are high and six sets of French doors frame views of the river and the London Eye.
Permissions have been granted for a reconfiguration of rooms, with the approved layout to include two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a utility room, dressing room and separate walk in wardrobe.
The 33 ft front room, which makes up almost a third of the total footprint, will become an open kitchen diner and the original bedroom beside it a second reception room. The old fireplace is a natural focal point, but there are decisions to be made on everything from the curtains to the carpets.
Planning documents note that many of the historical features typically found within Grade II-listed Whitehall Court have been ripped out in previous refurbishments, bar a section of original cornicing in the master bedroom which is set to be retained.
A previous attempt at modern cornicing will be replaced with a reproduction accurate to Victorian designs, and original archways either side of the chimney breast in the living area restored by removing infill partitions.
Any buyer will need to contend with an annual service charge of £28,000, but there are perks in the form of automatic access to the Farmers Club, a private member’s club established in 1842 and based in the same building.
They will also join a list of Whitehall Court residents which includes political figures William Gladstone and Lord Kitchener along with literary giants like H.G Wells and George Bernard Shaw. The address is now said to be a pied-à-terre hotspot for MPs who value its proximity to the Houses of Parliament.
Designed to evoke the grand French châteaux of the Loire Vallery, Whitehall Court was built in two parts during the 1880s.
Scandal soon followed. Numbers 1 and 2 — now the Royal Horseguards Hotel — were revealed as the cornerstone of an elaborate pyramid scheme by Liberal MP and developer Jabez Balfour, who was eventually arrested after fleeing to Argentina. Number 3 Whitehall Court, where the flat is located, has remained largely residential.
Records indicate the apartment was last sold in 2020 for £3,088,850.
