Take this: Jason Orange’s former West End home is on the market with Sotheby’s International Realty for £2.85m.
The Take That singer lived at the property —a penthouse spanning the top two floors of Gatti House on the Strand— for three years, between 2015 and 2018.
Orange joined Take That at its inception in 1990 and stayed with the band until it broke up in 1996. He re-joined when Take That reunited in 2005, joining their Reunion Tour and releasing three further albums with the band.
He left Take That in 2014, before the band started recording their seventh album, III. “I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album,” he said in a statement at the time.
“There have been no fallings out, only a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this. I know how much Mark, Gary and Howard enjoy writing and making music, and they know that they have my full support and encouragement to continue on with what is to be another chapter for the band…I have spent some of the best years of my life with Take That”.
Orange bought his Gatti House apartment a year later for £2.75 million, according to the Land Registry.
The two-bedroom penthouse, which is marketed as a pied-à-terre, is one of four apartments at the Grade II-listed Gatti House.
Built in 1886 by the theatre architect Spencer Chadwick, Gatti House was first used as The Adelphi Theatre Restaurant, attracting figures like Oscar Wilde and Noël Coward to its private dining rooms.
It belonged to Agostino and Stefano Gatti, two Italian-Swiss brothers who owned a portfolio of theatres and restaurants across London, including the Adelphi and Vaudeville theatres. The restaurant was run by Agostino’s oldest son, John Gatti, and his cousin, Gaspare Gatti.
Alongside the likes of Wilde and Coward, the restaurant was frequented by J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, the shipping company which operated the Titanic.
Ismay was so taken with the restaurant that he awarded the Gattis the contract to operate the à la carte restaurants aboard the new Titanic, even using its dining room as a template for the ship’s own.
In 1912, Gaspare Gatti and 35 of his staff boarded the Titanic to oversee the launch of the new restaurant, losing their lives when it sank.
The Gatti family sold the restaurant in 1955, and in 2010 it was acquired by investment firm Enstar Capital who restored the building and turned it into four luxury apartments.
When the new apartments were advertised for sale in 2015, priced at between £2.95 million and £5.95 million, they set a record for property prices in central London.
Each has a special “pizza lift” which can deliver food from the adjacent Nell Gwynne Tavern directly into the apartments.
At £2.75 million, Orange’s 1,324-square-foot apartment was the cheapest of the four. Its two bedrooms, both with ensuite, are located on the second floor, with a balcony leading out from the master suite.
Above, up a wooden staircase, there’s an open-plan kitchen and living room, also with its own balcony.
Today, the white-walled, oak-floored space has a slightly nautical feel, thanks to its vaulted ceiling with skylights and exposed wooden timbers, and a white, wood panelled wall at the far end of the room.
“What makes this penthouse so special is the way it builds on [Gatti House’s] legacy,” says Chris Sellwood at Sotheby’s International Realty.
“The conversion was carried out with extraordinary sensitivity, preserving character while creating homes that meet every modern expectation.
“The rustic beams, sweeping spaces and private balconies give a sense of drama and romance, while the interiors balance comfort and flair in a way that feels completely at home in Covent Garden.”
“It is rare to find a home that offers so much: architectural pedigree, cultural history, modern finesse, a prime location, and also that indefinable sense of magic that makes it one of the most exciting apartments on the market in the West End today,” he adds.
“For someone who dreams of living in the heart of Theatreland, surrounded by the very best of London’s cultural life, this penthouse is quite simply unmatched.”
Orange sold the penthouse to its current owners in 2018, and is reported to have relocated to the Cotswolds, joining the likes of bandmate Mark Owen, the Beckhams, Kate Moss and, last year, Ellen DeGeneres.
Despite having left Take That, Orange is still part of the band’s publishing company, according to Companies House. He is also the director of the property management company Nine The Firs, alongside former Celtic midfielder and football manager Neil Lennon.
What about Orange’s bandmates? Robbie Williams has spent the last few years embroiled in a planning spat with his neighbour, the Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, about his plans to excavate the basement of his Grade II-listed Holland Park house, which were eventually approved.
Howard Donald had his own planning difficulties in 2012, with neighbours annoyed about his plans to dig quarters for a nanny and a playroom for his children under his Kensington home. Despite objections about the “noise and inconvenience” of the works, the basement was given the green light, with Donald “doing his utmost to minimise the impact”.
Gary Barlow, meanwhile, bought a 117-acre estate in Cheshire in 1996, where he built his own recording studio, used by Charlotte Church, Delta Goodrem and Atomic Kitten – alongside Take That themselves.
Barlow sold Delamere Manor in 2005 and is now reported to own homes in London, Santa Monica and, like Orange, the Cotswolds.
He too is dabbling in property, having launched a company which buys and sells houses in 2023. Since then, it has bought the freehold of a number of commercial properties in Richmond.
