One of the tiniest detached homes in London has been listed for £1.2 million.
The home is a former gravedigger’s hamlet in Chelsea, West London, and it only has 290 square feet of floor area.
The narrowest point of the two-story house, which is just 8 feet and two inches wide, was placed up for sale in 2017 for the first time in fifty years.
Robin Swailes, a real estate entrepreneur, purchased it for £713,000 after outbidding 17 other bids.
The building, which Mr. Swailes refers to as a “doll’s house,” underwent renovations for roughly £400,000.
He turned it into a chic model house that is being offered for sale for £1.2 million, or £4,137 per square foot.
According to its ad with Harding Green estate agency, the unique home boasts a retractable bed that folds into the wall and concealed storage to maximise the compact area.
A former gravedigger’s cottage in Chelsea, West London, with just 290 square feet of floor area, is currently on the market for £1.2 million.
On the ground level, there is a welcome area that connects to a little galley kitchen, a wet room, and an upper bedroom with a roof terrace.
A Chesterfield couch that converts into a sofa bed, a TV concealed behind a mirror, a small table with two bar stools in the corner, and a stairway that is intended to make the room seem larger are all present in the living area.
The wet area is hidden behind a slanted door beside the kitchen and contains built-in amenities such a microwave, oven, and washer-dryer.
The bed is hidden behind wooden panelling upstairs, and there is a Bose sound bar and an LG projector mounted above it.
Additionally, there is a closet and a window seat with storage.
The home, which is close to St. Luke’s and Christ Church, is said to have started out as a gravedigger’s cottage.
In the 1960s, it was also a candy store, and when Mr. Swailes purchased it in a dilapidated condition, it was already a private residence.
“Working with tiny spaces is challenging, but you can make them beautiful with design, and that’s the task we took on here,” said Mr. Swailes, 59.
It’s in a great location and is well proportioned—like it’s a little mansion.
We really didn’t have a budget; all I wanted to do was make it as good as I could. The staircase alone cost us around £30,000; it was built with light-letting in mind to give the impression that the space is larger.
The £35,000 skylight on the roof terrace opens hydraulically at the push of a button.
Everything is completed to extraordinary standards. In order to make the greatest use of the space, we looked to superyachts for inspiration.
‘The novelty of the size is that you are basically purchasing something the size of a one-bedroom apartment but its a freehold and you haven’t got the outgoings of a flat such as ground rent or lease problems,’ said Edward McCulloch of Harding Green estate agency, who are selling the home.
“The setting is amazing. You live in a detached home that looks out over one of south west London’s most beautiful parks.
Robin did an excellent job on it; he essentially took it down to the bare essentials and redone it. He has given it a lot of love and attention.
“The design is like outfitting a very expensive boat,” someone said. It has all the technology, so you have a place you can take the keys to and move into the next day.
Every millimetre of space has been used. It is really exceptional because of the thought and attention to detail he put into it.
“We’ve already attracted a lot of international attention.”