As MPs and peers vacated the Houses of Parliament for their summer holidays last week, we take a look at five homes for sale with political links.
Where Pitt stopped
A bronze plaque on the front of Pitt House, a grand Georgian property in Bath, informs visitors of its famous former resident. William Pitt the Younger made the townhouse his home in 1802, the year after the first of his two stints as prime minister came to an end with his resignation. Built a decade earlier, the residence was designed by Thomas Baldwin, the architect of many of the city’s most impressive buildings.
Its connection to the country’s youngest prime minister is not the property’s only political pedigree: it later served as the offices of Bath Conservative Association.
Now Grade I listed, the house is on the market with Knight Frank for £3.4m. It combines original features such as cornices, high ceilings and period fireplaces with modern conveniences including electric window blinds, an integrated wine cooler and backlit dressing room shelves. There are four bedrooms and a study that could make a fifth, while the first-floor living space offers views of Bath’s weir.
An ambassadorial abode
Bought by John Hay Whitney as a country estate following his appointment as US ambassador to the UK by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957, the modernist Cherry Hill was built in the 1930s to the design of the innovative British architect Oliver Hill. A keen golfer, Whitney renamed the property after the Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado, where he and Eisenhower played, and made the most of its position adjoining Wentworth Club, Surrey, by inviting friends for rounds at weekends. He also entertained at Royal Ascot, with the racecourse a 10-minute drive from the house.
The property has undergone an extensive restoration and is now listed with Savills for a guide price of £30m. Set within 4.1 acres and offering six bedrooms, updates to the house include a basement cinema, and a new wing with a spa and an indoor swimming pool with a floor that rises up to double as an entertaining space.
A prime ministerial property
Sir Robert Peel bought Tamhorn Park Farmhouse near Lichfield, Staffordshire, in around 1827 to use as a hunting lodge. This was prior to the Conservative politician’s two periods in office as prime minister, and two years before he founded the Metropolitan Police Service during his second term as Home Secretary. The Georgian property, built in around 1715 on what are thought to have been the remains of Tamhorn Manor, stayed in the Peel family until the mid 1920s.
Today, the light, Grade II-listed home is available to buy through Knight Frank for £1,395,000. It offers the next owners five bedrooms, four bathrooms and six receptions rooms including a games room that currently houses a snooker table. Set on 1.1 acre, the property’s outdoor space includes a private kitchen courtyard, terraces and a fish pond. A summerhouse on the lawn could be used as a hobby room.
Following in Baldwin’s footsteps
Meeting minutes show Stanley Baldwin in attendance at Glenhurst, a Georgian house in his hometown of Bewdley, Worcestershire, in 1907. Elected to succeed his father Alfred as the Conservative MP for the area the following year, Baldwin went on to serve as prime minister three times and became the 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley after stepping down. He is believed to have used Glenhurst’s wood panelled dining room for meetings during his time at the top.
Set within walled gardens, the Grade II-listed house retains original 18th-century features such as wooden beams and floors, and fireplaces. Spread over three floors, the accommodation includes five bedrooms, a large kitchen/breakfast room, vaulted cellars for wine storage and separate dining, drawing and family rooms. The Coach House offers a further two bedrooms, sitting room, kitchen and shower room. All could be yours: the property is being sold with Strutt & Parker for £1.5m.
Proximity to the corridors of power
This Grade II*-listed townhouse is situated within the division bell area of Westminster, meaning it would be possible for the owners to respond in time to the warnings sounded to alert members of the House of Commons and House of Lords that they have eight minutes to get to their chosen lobby to vote.
Its Lord North Street address is not the only draw. Once host to guests including Queen Alexandra and Marilyn Monroe, the early Georgian terrace property has a 24ft drawing room on the first floor for entertaining modern day visitors as well as separate reception and dining rooms, and a patio garden for sunnier days. The current owners use a room next to the ground floor reception room as a study but it could make a fourth bedroom. The house is priced at £3.9m with Savills.
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