Start at It is a high perch on the famous clock tower at St Pancras Station. This iconic property is among the most desirable and quirky in London.
The two-bedroom flat features wall paintings by pop artist Peter Blake and unrivalled views over the capital to St Paul’s Cathedral and The Shard.
But now its owner, model and actress Lily Cole, stands to make a profit of more than £3 million on the meticulously restored property – after putting it up for sale for £4.6 million.
Model and actress Lily Cole, stands to make a profit of more than £3 million on the meticulously restored property
The 33-year-old star of the St Trinian’s films bought the flat in 2009 when the Victorian building, formerly the Midland Grand Hotel, was being refurbished.
Sir Gilbert Scott was the architect of this Gothic revival hotel. It opened in 1873 and closed in 1935. It fell into decline and was saved by the 1960s.
Cole claims to have hired a designer that she had met while modeling during her days. The goal was to transform 1,600 square feet of space.
It took three weeks for the ceiling to be recreated. The company also replicated the original mosaics. Lily, a staircase she found in an abandoned yard, was used to install it.
The property’s stunning and unusual features are featured in Channel 4’s Britain’s Most Expensive Houses, which takes viewers inside the homes of some of the country’s richest people, on December 29.
Sir Gilbert Scott was the architect of Gothic revival architecture. The hotel opened in 1873 and closed in 1935. The hotel eventually went into decline and was saved by the 1960s.
The property’s stunning and unusual features are featured in Channel 4’s Britain’s Most Expensive Houses
It reveals a unique rainbow painting over the arch of a bay window by Peter Blake, best known for designing the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
The walls also feature a railway track created by a Dutch master craftsman, which runs around the perimeter of the living room just above the picture rail – a quirky nod to the station below.
The model’s eclectic tastes are also revealed, with green bathroom tiles and deer head taps imported from Morocco, and a free-standing copper bathtub in front of a giant window overlooking the city.
It is thought that the eco-campaigner lived with Kwame Ferreira (44), in the apartment.
He is an Angolan businessman and co-founder of Cole’s company Impossible, which tries to solve business problems and social issues with eco-friendly technology.
Wylde, Wylde is Wylde’s five-year-old sister to Cole and Ferreira.
Impossible was founded by her in 2013, after she decided to take a break from fashion design. The company now has offices in San Francisco, Lisbon and London and has worked with brands such as jeweller Tiffany & Co and tech giants Samsung and Google.
Earlier this year Cole was forced to apologise after she posted a photograph of herself in a burka, with a call to embrace ‘diversity’, just as the Taliban was overrunning Afghanistan.
The star, who graduated from Cambridge with a double first in history of art, claimed that she didn’t read the news.