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While some of us are scrambling to viewings and hastily ignoring our budgets, others at the other end of the property scale are serenely perusing the many, man gorgeous houses London has to offer.
Excitingly, a treasure of a property has just entered the market. But it’s not just any luxury home, this place has been described as one of London’s best-preserved Huguenot houses.
The Huguenots, for those not in-the-know, were a group of 50,000 French Protestants who fled from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for the UK. They are often considered the country’s first refugees. Equipped with skills such as feather and fan work, clothing design, wood carving and clockmaking, many settled in Soho, Greenwich and Spitalfields.
According to The Huguenot Society, Spitalfields was especially popular with wool and silk weavers, and the area is still dotted with evidence of their presence all those years ago. Master weavers typically occupied townhouses around Spital Square, while jobbing weavers instead inhabited smaller cottages in Whitechapel and Bethnal Green.
The property for sale, which is listed with The Unique Property Company, was built in 1720. Over five stories, it features five bedrooms, four reception rooms and a weavers loft. The kitchen and dining area are located on the lower ground floor, and there’s also a conservatory and quaint little garden.
It’s located on Princelet Street, which is also home to the Museum of Immigration and Diversity. The loft offers pretty views over the street, but the windows were traditionally designed to offer weavers as much light as possible. Here are a couple more pictures of the place.
Much of the House’s original charm has been preserved thanks to its current owner Robert Shackleton, who is a photographer and decorative antiques dealer. Panelled walls, sash windows and classical floorboards and fireplaces have been cared for, to ensure the house retains its many Huguenot charms.
It could be yours for just £4 million. Find out more on the official listing here.
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