The Kim Kardashion-style Hampstead Villa That Sold for £15 Million

Very few houses in London carry the signature of an architect whose name means something to collectors as well as to buyers. The six-bedroom villa on Cannon Lane in Hampstead is one of them, and it has now sold at £15,000,000 in a deal negotiated by Rosy Khalastchy, Head of our St John's Wood office.

The house was designed by Claudio Silvestrin, the Italian architect regarded as the master of contemporary minimalism, and the villa offers the buyers the combination they wanted the most: scale, architectural pedigree, privacy and a design language they already understood.

The architect behind the house

Silvestrin's client list explains a great deal about the finish of this property. He designed the minimalist Soho loft that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West once used as their Manhattan base, and in 2013 he worked alongside Belgian designer Axel Vervoordt advising on the five-year refurbishment of Kardashian's Calabasas residence in Los Angeles. Between 1999 and 2007, he travelled the world creating interiors for Giorgio Armani, and in 1991 he built a Mallorca villa for Caroline Neuendorf of the Artnet digital art dynasty.

Cannon Lane, completed in 2016, belongs to that lineage. Open living spaces, clean lines and geometric form, executed with a restraint that only works when the materials are right.

Materials and light

Yellow-ochre rock slabs quarried in the Italian Dolomites run across walls and floors, interrupted by oak timber and offset with oxidised brass. Door handles, surfaces and railings are finished in bronze. Full-height architectural glazing borders the rear of the house, so the stone reads differently through the day as the light moves across it.

The garden was designed as an outdoor entertaining and relaxation space by Chris Beardshaw, a gold medal winner at RHS Chelsea. It runs across an upper garden and terrace, with a staircase down to a lower terrace, and every principal room opens onto its own glass-balustraded balcony, with a green roof and eco-garden above.

How does the villa work?

At 7,940 sq ft (737 sq m) across five floors, the house is unusually lateral for London. The principal reception room takes the entire ground floor and opens through full-height glazing onto the terrace, the balcony and the garden. The kitchen, with its central island and breakfast bar, sits off the main dining space on the lower ground floor alongside the home cinema, with direct access out to the garden.

The health spa occupies a full floor in the lower basement. A swimming pool of approximately 60 feet runs the length of it, with the gym, sauna, steam room and treatment room beyond. Rill water features edge the treatment room so that the space appears to float. Changing rooms, a shower, a WC and a further bedroom or studio complete the level.

The principal bedroom suite spans the full width of the first floor and includes a walk-in dressing room and a bathroom with a sculptural freestanding bathtub. Three further bedrooms sit on the same floor, one en suite, each opening onto its own balcony, together with a family bathroom. The top floor holds a second principal or guest suite with a wrap-around terrace, dressing room and en-suite shower room.

A passenger lift serves all five floors. The two-car garage has a car lift of the kind more often seen on a film set.

Why Hampstead and why now?

"The Claudio Silvestrin villa in Hampstead is an exceptional property, like a fine piece of contemporary artwork, and has found the right owner to fully appreciate it," says Jeremy Gee, Managing Director of Beauchamp Estates. "The combination of minimalist interiors and terraced gardens provide the perfect London retreat. Over the last few years the villa has been rented out to a series of Hollywood stars, who each wanted to make it their home whilst working in London."

Rosy Khalastchy, who negotiated the sale, points to the wider pattern, "this sale reflects the enduring strength of Hampstead as a destination for families relocating to London. Buyers of this calibre are looking for homes that combine genuine architectural pedigree, with privacy and convenient location. Cannon Lane delivers on all three. It is a fantastic result for our client."

Cannon Lane itself is discreet, minutes from Hampstead Village and Hampstead Heath. University College School, South Hampstead High School, Devonshire House Preparatory School and the American School are all within easy reach, which is what draws relocating families to this pocket of north London in the first place.

Speak to us

Houses of this quality are not often on the market for long, and a number never reach it at all. If you are buying or selling in Hampstead, St John's Wood or the wider prime London market, contact us to discuss what is available, including properties we handle off-market.