A lateral apartment at the Berkeley Square site of the first London childhood home of Sir Winston Churchill has gone on the market for £6.5 million.
The two bedroom home is at 48 Berkeley Square, a building that was leased to the wartime Prime Minister’s father Lord Randolph Churchill in the 1870s.
He lived there between January 1874 and December 1879 with his American-born socialite wife Jeanette, Lady Churchill. Their son Winston was born in November 1874 and until the age of 5 the Berkeley Square property served as his London home, where he was looked after by his nanny Elizabeth Everest.
The Mayfair property was acquired at the time of the 1874 general election when Randolph Churchill was elected to Parliament as Conservative MP for Woodstock, so the family needed a London base close to the Houses of Parliament
Winston’s younger brother Jack Churchill was born in February 1880 so the Churchill family left Berkeley Square and moved to a larger house at 29 St James’s Place
The 1,859 sqft apartment is on the third floor of the Portland stone town house, which is the only surviving residential building on one of London’s most famous squares. It has a 37-foot-wide reception room with five sash windows, the tallest casements in the building with views over Berkeley Square.
The original townhouse on the site was built in 1830 as the London home of Charles Grey, the 2nd Earl Grey, who was Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834. During the 1830s and 1840s Earl Grey, best remembered for the aromatic tewa named after him, lived at 48 Berkeley Square with his wife Mary and their 15 children
In 1906 the townhouse was demolished and replaced by the current nine story Edwardian Baroque style apartment building, designed by architect Frank Verity and built by Higginson & Co
Peter Wetherell, founder and executive chairman of agents Wetherell, which is handling the sale, said: “The grand apartment building at 48 Berkeley Square has been the site of the home of two British Prime Ministers, first Earl Grey, who Earl Grey tea is named after, and later as the childhood home of Sir Winston Churchill.
“The site of the former London home of Lord Randolph Churchill, is now an exceptional lateral apartment with a reception room with five sash windows providing panoramic views over the gardens and trees of Berkeley Square. This wonderful apartment provides the perfect pied-à-terre for someone wanting a London base in the heart of Mayfair.”
