A Grade II*-listed townhouse on one of London’s best-known garden squares has hit the market for £8.95 million.
Name-dropped in everything from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities to My Fair Lady, Soho Square was laid out in the 1670s and swiftly became a coveted address for politicians, merchants and landowners.
At that time it was Kings Square – so named for the weathered statue of the monarch which now sits alongside a distinctive mock-Tudor hut, built in 1926 to conceal an electricity substation.
Number 13, which is listed for sale with Inigo, sits on the northern side of the square, next to the house where pioneering Crimean War nurse Mary Seacole lived in the 19th century.
For almost four decades the stuccoed five-storey townhouse was the base of Richard Williams’ animation studio, which he established in 1955.
When the studio’s 1972 version of A Christmas Carol won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, the resulting upset prompted a policy change which banned any works originally shown on television from Oscars contention.
Williams went on to win two further Academy Awards for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and is credited as the designer for the film’s most famous export, Jessica Rabbit. Production was brought to London when Williams refused to relocate to LA.
Records show entrepeneur Pelham Olive bought 13 Soho Square for £9 million in 2015 – £500,000 more than the current asking price.
It has since functioned as an elegant hire space for exhibitions and pop-up events, including a recent stint as the base of digital art gallery Bright Moments for “in-person NFT minting experiences”.
With 6,000 square feet of space across five storeys, the house would make an illustrious private address if return to domestic use.
RodiÄ Davidson Architects, which specialises in securing planning consents for listed buildings, has devised a plan for its renovation which would include “significant improvements to the sustainability and environmental performance of the building”. It has targeted a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating if the works are to be carried out.
Ceilings will be raised to more accurately match original heights and historic cornices, skirting boards, architraves and doors returned to former glory. An original stone staircase dating to 1768–69 and panelling are to be protected and restored.
A private third floor terrace and additional rooftop garden are also included in the plans.
Inigo describes it as a “a rare and exciting opportunity” to renovate “a building of considerable beauty, with grand proportions, stone and original wooden staircases”.
Soho Square has long-held links to the London film industry, with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) headquarted at number 3 and cinema audio specialists Dolby Europe at 4-6. The site also includes a 67-person screening room.
A controversial plan to demolish Twentieth Century House, which had been the UK headquarters of 20th Century Fox since 1937, was halted earlier this year with the owners promising to consider “all options”. The building had fallen into disrepair after Disney bought out the company in 2017 and staff were relocated.
The average property price in Soho currently sits at £1,771,179.
