On a large, secluded, sun-filled plot on the corner of Frognal Rise and Lower Terrace, just moments from both Hampstead Village and the 360-acre Heath, Frognal Rise House a Grade II Listed 6,340 sq. ft. three-storey home, with seven bedrooms and beautifully conserved period interiors, offering a rare opportunity for grand detached lateral living within one of Northwest London’s most desirable enclaves, is for sale at a guide price of £11million via Aston Chase and Savills.
Dating from the early 19th century and extended over the centuries, Frognal Rise House – on a slightly elevated site and sheltered behind a characterful warm-red brick wall and wraparound, fruit tree-filled south-facing gardens – is set apart from many other taller, slimmer central Hampstead houses by its country-house proportions.
Cherished by three generations of the same family since 1937 – one member of which added a series of striking, richly coloured Art Nouveau-style murals to the interiors – the originally Georgian home features four large reception spaces plus a study, high ceilings and lashings of natural light.
A vast, flexible lower ground floor, currently arranged as a self-contained apartment, has its own private entrance off Frognal Rise, plus a wine room and series of storage spaces, and has extraordinary potential for a variety of uses, such as a leisure suite and cinema room. A flexible loft area could also be converted to further accommodation, subject to obtaining the necessary planning consents. Another rare perk for the area is the detached private garage, with roof garden above, which has enough space to park four small, or two very large, cars.
Today, the home’s close neighbours number billionaires, celebrated filmmakers, sports moguls and luxury fashion tastemakers, drawn to the network of verdant, semi-rural lanes that radiate out from Hampstead Village, the Heath and its ancient woodland, while still just five miles from central London. But Frognal Rise House retains what is probably today a completely unique historic charm for the area, coupled with incredible possibilities for a bespoke refurbishment.
The exterior is instantly enticing. Ostensibly Georgian in character, studded with rows of sash windows, the home was extended by a further wing in the late Victorian era, in 1884, by Marshall N Inman, a noted architect and surveyor of his day. Historic England suggests Inman was once again called on in 1900 to modernise and extend the home, this time showcasing the exquisite detailing of Art Nouveau architectural and decorative style.
Into a façade of yellow London stock brick beneath a slated hipped roof, a grand new stone-faced entranceway to Frognal Rise House was created, off Lower Terrace, with segmental arch and hoodmould, and – the pièce de résistance above the oversized wooden door – a wonderful carving of foliage and nesting birds.
Step over the impressive threshold, and you’ll find interiors that have been well maintained, but largely decoratively unchanged since the 1930s: a perfect microcosm of the intellectual, literary, artistic and musical circles for which Hampstead has always been so famous. John Keats, Sigmund Freud, Evelyn Waugh, TS Eliot, John Betjeman, Daphne du Maurier, Marianne Faithfull and Stephen Fry have all called Hampstead home.
Many period features are still in situ, including wooden floorboards and panelled doors, picture rails and skirting boards, along with a series of wall murals, in the Art Nouveau style, created by respected painter and illustrator Angela Latham, née Gibbons (1894-1980). She bought the home with her husband, Professor Peter M. S. Latham, Gresham Professor in Music (Emeritus), in 1937.
Between 1938 and 1939, Angela – whose oeuvre was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts – adorned the hallway, stairwell and several other spaces on the first floor, including one of the four bathrooms, with murals depicting abundant nature and scenes from ancient Indian epic poems, with family members used as models. Although unlisted, they provide an intriguing vignette into Frognal Rise House’s fascinating past.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, however, Angela largely stopped painting, to concentrate on the war effort. Both she and her husband Peter – who taught at the Royal Academy and Guildhall Schools of Music and later worked for MI5 – were both Air Raid Precautions wardens, with the house also used as a War Funds Comfort Association depot.
Here, utilising both the home’s cavernous lower ground level and garage, supplies were stockpiled until they could be distributed to the Armed Forces and to those left homeless by the Blitz (with the aristocratic Glenconner family, who lived round the corner at Hampstead’s famous Admiral’s House, storing what she could not). Sea-boot stockings sent to Angela by the Tibetan Army, made of oily, unwashed waterproof yaks’ wool, proved to be lifesavers for servicemen torpedoed in the Atlantic.
The Lathams entertained many well-known literary and musical names of their day here, including English novelist Winston Graham, who wrote the classic Cornish bodice-ripping Poldark series, and later passed the home to their daughter, Professor Margaret Valentine Korah. A trailblazer as the first female law professor at UCL, who sadly died earlier this year, Korah had four children, who are now dispersed across various parts of the UK.
Hermione Brown, Korah’s daughter and one of the executors of her estate, says: “Frognal Rise House is a wonderful place that I have known all my life. It is filled with so much history and my grandmother’s wonderful artwork and family portraits. My abiding memory, however, will be of me as a little girl, with my grandmother sitting in her rocking chair listening to my grandfather playing his Steinway piano, while I danced. I know the family that buys it will find just as much joy here as we have.”
Mark Pollack, Co-Founder and Director of Aston Chase, says: “It is a privilege to handle this remarkable property, on the open market for the first time since the 1930s, and cherished by three generations of the same family. Frognal Rise House presents that rarest of opportunities: a Grade II Listed detached villa with nearly 7,000 sq. ft. of lateral living space in one of Northwest London’s most exclusive addresses.”
James Diaper, Head of Sales at Savills (Hampstead) says: “The country house in London continues to be incredibly sought-after, and Frognal Rise House is a terrific example of the type of home people are looking for. The property has plenty of historic charm and offers incredible potential as a refurbishment project.
“Close to both the village and Hampstead Heath, its sale presents a wonderful opportunity for a new buyer to put their own stamp on one of the area’s most remarkable homes.”
Frognal Rise House is just a few minutes’ walk from the eateries, pubs and boutiques of Hampstead Village and the vast green expanses of the Heath. It is extremely well connected, within easy walking distance of several Underground stations including Hampstead 0.2m (Northern) and Belsize Park 1.0m (Northern). London Overground services leave from Hampstead Heath station and Thameslink trains from West Hampstead, both approximately a mile away. It is also conveniently located for national and international services at Euston and King’s Cross and St Pancras International.
Frognal Rise House is available to buy at a guide price of £11million.
