Rocket Pan? Clerkenwell flat with Elton John's hand-me-down purple kitchen on the market for £3.75m

If the purple cabinets of this kitchen could talk, they probably have some tales to tell.

Fog House in Clerkenwell, currently on the market for £3.75 million with Knight Frank, has had some celebrity sparkle dust sprinkled on it.

The two-bedroom home once belonged to broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, who commissioned the (now disgraced) architect David Adjaye to remodel and extend the former brick warehouse into a five-storey home in 2002.

Janet Street-Porter commissioned the house in 2002 (Knight Frank)

According to Knight Frank, the story goes that, with the work underway Street-Porter was reaching the top of her budget and still missing a kitchen. She confided in her friend Elton John and the singer immediately proffered up his own kitchen, which he was reportedly planning on replacing anyway.

Street-Porter and Elton John have been friends for decades, and the broadcaster even made a speech and the singer’s wedding to David Furnish in 2005.

Elton John donated the kitchen to help his friend keep it on budget (Knight Frank)

Featuring steel countertops and bright lavender cabinetry, the striking kitchen’s vibe is carried through in the rest of the house’s interiors, which has colour-blocked built-in storage and room dividers. The bathrooms are also realised in striking monochromatic hues of all blue or entirely green.

The house is arranged in an upside-down style, with the two bedrooms occupying the first and second floors. The latter is the principal suite, which includes an open plan bathroom with a free-standing tub and a walk-in dressing room area.

The principal bedroom has lots of built-in wardrobes (Knight Frank)

The ample wardrobe space was likely intentional; Street-Porter started her journalism career on the Daily Mail’s fashion desk, and became fashion editor of the Evening Standard in the Seventies.

An open plan kitchen/living room occupies the fifth floor. The study and garage are on the ground floor, with a private gym on the lower ground floor.

One of the bathrooms is entirely blue (Knight Frank)

Street-Porter briefed Adjaye to create a home with total privacy. The windows were sandblasted to allow in light while screening the interiors, prompting the architect to christen the project Fog House — a name Street-Porter reportedly dismissed as “pretentious”.

Adjaye stepped back from many high profile architecture projects last year, following a Financial Times investigations into multiple allegations of sexual assault.

Frosted glass provides privacy — and inspired the name Fog House (Knight Frank)

Street-Porter sold the house in 2016 and moved to Norfolk.

Fog House has previously been listed by The Modern House and sold to lawyer and investor Della Burnside. “My dogs, Percy and Arthur, have great fun racing around the open spaces here,” Burnside told The Modern House. “It’s also very teenage-friendly, and my nieces and nephew love it, and they come to stay a lot.”

Street-Porter sold the house in 2016 (Knight Frank)

Prior to the Loose Women star taking it on, the property was being used as a studio by the artist Marc Quinn, a member of the YBA (Young British Artist) scene who infamously sculpted a naked Kate Moss in a revealing yoga pose.

Before Fog House, Street Porter commissioned another architect-designed home in Farringdon. Designed in 1988 by Piers Gough of architecture practice CZWG, the spikey corner house was awarded Grade II-listed status in 2018. Street-Porter met Gough while they were both studying at the Architectural Association.

The Farringdon home was put on the market in 2022, also for £3.75 million.