Tilda Swinton's former home listed for sale for £650,000 in Chelsea

Tilda Swinton’s former Chelsea flat is for sale with Knight Frank for £650,000.

The actor lived in the two-bedroom apartment on the King’s Road for 15 years between 1983 and 1998, as her career was taking off.

In fact, Swinton’s old home is currently enjoying new fame in a current exhibition at Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum, called Tilda Swinton – Ongoing.

Celebrating her life and work, the exhibition also presents Flat 19, a multimedia reconstruction of the apartment created together with filmmaker — and childhood friend — Joanna Hogg.

Swinton's empty apartment, as recreated by Joanna Hogg in Flat 19 (Joanna Hogg)

In it, the flat is empty, as if waiting for new owners to arrive. Images show thick, creamy-coloured carpets and bobbled magnolia walls bearing the marks of its last occupant: a pale rectangular patch on the chimney breast where a picture had been hung, scuffs on the doors, a dormant entry phone.

Swinton’s voice, meanwhile, recites memories of her time in the apartment: the “tiniest” kitchen, the runway-like corridor, the fact that it was in the flat that she first met friend, collaborator and filmmaker Derek Jarman, who died in 1994.

It was while living in the King’s Road flat that Swinton landed some of her most important early roles, including in Caravaggio in 1986, which was directed by Jarman, and Orlando in the 1992 adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel.

Swinton with a model floorplan of her flat in the exhibition (Joanna Hogg)

“The challenge was that [Flat 19] wasn’t based on photos but recreated entirely from Tilda’s memory of the space,” explained executive producer Julia Kozakiewicz in an interview with Double Magazine.

“The final installation looks like a film set from the outside and feels like an archive of her memories on the inside. It’s the culmination of a creative process that spanned months: Joanna and Tilda would have calls where Joanna asked about every detail — what the door handles looked like, how it felt to move through the apartment.”

After 15 years, Swinton moved out of the flat in 1998 and relocated to the Scottish Highlands, where she still lives now.

The living room of Flat 19 today (Knight Frank)

Today, the King’s Road apartment still has its wide bay window and runway-esque corridor, but its interiors, thankfully, are no longer exclusively magnolia, or wall-to-wall carpet.

The 600-square-foot property, arranged over a single floor, has two bedrooms, the same small kitchen referenced in the exhibition, and a reception and dining room.

“This charming two-bedroom apartment is set within a portered red brick mansion block, ideally positioned between the River Thames and the iconic King’s Road,” says Claire Mengham at Knight Frank.

The runway-like central corridor today (Knight Frank)

“With bright, far-reaching views down King’s Road, the property sits right in the vibrant heart of central London. It is no surprise that someone as iconic as Tilda Swinton chose to live here in her youth.

“The apartment offers excellent accommodation in a central setting and would make a wonderful pied à terre or home for anyone seeking a slice of city life, while still enjoying the quintessential charm of Chelsea and the tranquillity of the nearby river.”