A rare, historic Thameside home looking out onto Tower Bridge has come onto the market for £15 million.
The former Dockmaster’s House, sitting at the opening of St Katherine’s Dock, has such a rich history that Lord Snowdon, the late Queen’s brother-in-law, campaigned against its demolition after its purpose changed from being the home of the dockmaster (who managed the dock and conducted business with merchants and shipmasters), to a private home.
Thanks to those efforts, we now have a unique home that is on the market for the first time in 30 years.
Built directly into the dock walls, the 4,700 sq ft house is one of only a small number of private single residences that sit directly on the River Thames.
It is surrounded by water on two sides, giving it a rare level of privacy and security for a central London home — and even gets 24-hour security from the Docklands without the owners having to pay any contribution.
It also has uninterrupted river views, which it seems safe to say are unmatched by any other London home.
The original building was designed in 1827 by the leading architect Philip Hardwick, treasurer of the Royal Academy, who is best known for London Euston’s Doric Arch and Goldsmiths’ Hall in the City of London.
The current owners combined the house with The Toll House – the former Dock Office – to create a larger home.
The office was gutted, the roof raised, and the interior was entirely redesigned to create one cohesive property.
They say they decorated in the style of one of London’s most important architects, Sir John Soane, with a Georgian English country house look.
The raised ground floor dining room and first-floor drawing room offer particularly special views with full width apsidal windows facing the river.
They have been decorated to provide the impression of being within the captain’s quarters of an 18th century English ship.
The owners are avid collectors of antiques, and while they will be taking their collection away with them as they seek to spend more time in the countryside, the main décor of the house will remain, and Richardson feels buyers are likely to want to preserve it.
“My gut feeling is it's going to be an American buyer who loves the history of London and will want it as a trophy asset, and will have it as their London Pierre de Terre and just do huge amounts of entertaining, just like our client has,” says Samuel Richardson, head of sales Mayfair at Carter Jonas.
“Because if you look, the majority of the buildings along there are all new build apartments or warehouses that have been converted into apartments. So it's very rare to find a freehold house in that location that has parking, has a garden, has those interrupted views.
“What's really unique about it is that you're in the heart of London, you're walking distance into the City, you've got everything on the doorstep, but when you're in the gardens and the house, it feels like you're in the country. It's so quiet and peaceful,”
The five-storey home retains many original features, including the Georgian cellar, which can hold dozens of cases of wine in an environmentally controls atmosphere and has even had a dumb waiter up to the saloon installed by the current owners to aide with entertaining.
In total, the house comprises five bedrooms, some of which are used as a gym, office or garden room, a pantry, utility room, wine cellar, kitchen, dining room, drawing room, saloon, library private study, TV/family room and a crows’s nest terrace with spectacular views.
The private walled garden which comes out onto the Thames was planted by the current owners with input from Todd Longstaffe-Gowan – the British landscape architect and author best known for designing the Kensington Palace Gardens.
