My £700,000 mansion: A glove-maker's family seat that became a tailored home to busy city professionals

mail on sunday 21 january 2013

With its grand staircase, brass handrails and solid oak floors, it is easy to tell that Loxford House in Highbury, North London, has enjoyed an illustrious past.

Built in the 1850s in a Regency style, it was originally the seat of the famous glove-making family the Dents. Then, for 75 years, it was the headquarters of the National Children’s Home charity.

Now known as The Loxfords, it has been converted into apartments, with 18 luxury townhouses and more flats in the grounds.

Its developers, Mount Anvil, have been sensitive in emphasising the building’s generous proportions – its high ceilings and large windows.

And they have added chic details such as sleek tiles, designer chrome fixtures, ‘soft close’ cabinets and wine fridges to create homes tailor-made for modern professionals.

The icing on the cake is a soon-to-be-installed work by Brit artist Gavin Turk called Ajar, a painted bronze door modelled on an actual door from a 19th century children’s home.

Mount Anvil’s efforts certainly fit the bill for 25-year-old property manager Tom Hamilton who, with his partner, has just spent £700,000 on a two-bedroom flat in the development.

‘You really get the feeling of being in an old mansion,’ he says. ‘You can tell that the building has a lot of history, and that will be emphasised when the artwork is unveiled in the spring.

‘The large old windows in the flats have been refurbished with double glazing. There is a bus stop outside but it’s so quiet that you wouldn’t know it was there.’

The National Children’s Home moved into Loxford House in 1925. The charity was established by Methodist minister Thomas Bowman Stephenson in 1869.

Stephenson’s hope was to build a family-style system of childcare that would be disciplined but loving, in contrast to the much-feared workhouses. The charity was renamed Action For Children in 2008 and it moved out of Loxford House in 2010. The new headquarters are in Watford.

When Loxford House was built, the area around it had become known as a ‘cakes and ale resort’, providing rural relief for Londoners escaping the city. With its leafy residential streets and independent shops and cafes, the area still has this feel today.

Tom Hamilton appreciates this villagey atmosphere. ‘We’ve just moved down from York so wanted somewhere that had a community feel and wasn’t too overwhelming, as London can be,’ says Tom.

‘Around here it’s perfect. It’s not everywhere these days that you find individual fishmongers, butchers and greengrocers, but you do here.’

The flat he has bought is currently being finished so he is staying in a rented one in another part of the building.

Tom says that he was also attracted to The Loxfords by its transport connections.

As well as being on bus routes, it is only minutes on foot from Arsenal and Highbury & Islington Underground stations.

The flats are being sold on a 125-year lease. The annual service charge, which includes a concierge, is £3.63 per square foot. So for Tom’s 1,104  sq ft flat, it will be just over £4,000 a year.

Many of the properties on the site have already been sold but four-bedroom townhouses in the grounds are still available for £1.425 million, apartments in Loxford House itself from £575,000, and new apartments in the grounds from £565,000.

As a property manager himself, Tom has something of an insight into how developments such as The Loxfords are run. ‘So far they seem to be doing very well,’ he laughs.

Mount Anvil’s sales director, Brian De’ath, says: ‘The Loxfords does not have a set demographic – we think we have created homes that will appeal to an eclectic mix of individuals.

‘The development is already attracting those who want to be near the buzz of Central London yet want more of a village and community feel, and to whom the prospect of building a base in leafy Highbury is desirable.

‘So far, buyers have been drawn from the full spectrum and include first-time buyers, investors and those looking to downsize.’