RIVERSIDE, WITH RELISH
When the sun shines in London, it is the best city in the world. My father says, if England had good weather there’d be so many people there’d be no room to lay down. When the high pressure hits, and the ethereal clouds part, blazing the capital in its warm summery rays, Londoners are wont not to miss a single ray. Shirt buttons are undone, sleeves are rolled up, short skirts are pulled from the back of the wardrobe and sunglasses are adorned by all. Pubs and cafes spill onto the pavement and beer gardens are filled to capacity. Heavy moods lift and pale, Vitamin D deprived faces take on a healthy glow. Everyone is elated and ready to celebrate life.
Its summer, lets live another day.
Our beautiful city of London is one of the world’s most famous. The epicentre of the world’s greatest known empire, such as it was that the sun never set on it. Until eventually, it did. But now, it’s a celebrity city in its own right and one that is recognised as liberal, cosmopolitan and until very recently, one of the safest in the western world. London has had a bit of a bashing lately, horrific terror attacks and with Brexit looming just past the horizon, like a hidden dragon. But the one thing London is, other than thrillingly exciting, architecturally magnificent, fabulously eclectic, throbbing with energy, and at the forefront of global finance, cutting edge fashion and design, leaders in innovation, research and technology, is that it is incredibly and unflinchingly resilient. The very definition of resilience.
It’s been invaded, occupied, burned to the ground, plagued, bombed to smithereens and mired in winters of discontent and thrust into deep recession many times, but you just can’t keep it down. Like a living, breathing thing, it adapts and it expands, rippling outwards to the suburbs and it shines with life, all walks of life, like a beacon of hope and opportunity, and through its great centre, (and this is the segue), through its iconic modern structures and its ancient and imperial past, flows one the most famous of the world’s rivers. In these summer months, Old father Thames sparkles and shines as he rushes in and out of the capital twice a day, bringing with him the memories of over a 1000 years of history.
Every day I thank the damp river gods that I am lucky enough to sell property along the banks of the Thames in my favourite city, for one of the world’s best estate agents.
From the chocolate box collection of Georgian Houses on Chiswick and Hammersmith Malls, to the Skyscrapers at Canary Wharf and everything in between, the river Thames is no longer an international trading waterway for the empire, but it is now home to people from all over the old empire and beyond.
There are beautiful, red brick, Victorian Mansion blocks, funky warehouse conversions, grand palatial mansions, gleaming, modern blocks of flats and sprawling lifestyle developments, each with a view that changes throughout the day with riverside activity.
Depending on your location, your bedroom or reception room might look out onto a modernist, giant Ferris wheel built for the millennium in 2000, or an obelisk named for Egypt’s beautiful Queen built in Heliopolis in 1450BC– that is some time frame, nes pas?
The river Thames has it all. The gothic revival masterpiece that is the Palace of Westminster is one of my favourites. I had a client who used the clock in Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) as his morning time check. Other favourites of mine include the notorious Tower of London, the place of imprisonment and untimely demise of many an unfortunate member of the royal houses over the centuries and now home to the spectacular crown jewels. Tower Bridge is a favourite of many a Londoner and visitor alike. And what about Greenwich? – where our time comes from. A Unesco site of gobsmacking splendour, including the Maritime Museum, Queens House and the Royal observatory.
Selling riverside lifestyle developments is easy, if you are tired of looking at the pastel hued, typically Victorian, Albert Bridge, underrated but strikingly detailed, Vauxhall Bridge or bored of walking along the hustling and bustling Southbank, with its museums, street art, Christmas markets and summer fairs, or tired of strolling through peaceful Battersea Park, or perhaps you no longer feel like gazing at the Barnes wetlands, or Chelsea Embankment, or at the entire city skyline taking in the Shard, the Gherkin, the Cheesegrater, the Walkie Talkie and all the other new towers rising like spears into the skyline from the 50th floor of your panoramic penthouse.
If you are really tired of all that, then you can take advantage of the riverside lifestyle amenities, on site, in your residential development.
It is now common place to enjoy the ultimate in luxury in your own building. From mosaic tiles swimming pools, veined marble, bubbling spas areas, sleepily lit massage rooms, shivering cold caves and glowing saunas. Ripped gym instructors, tanned tennis coaches, snooty onsite sommeliers and cocky cocktail barmen. Games rooms, high tech virtual golf, sleek conference facilities and valet parking. Sunny roof terraces, tropical, enclosed sky gardens, catering kitchens, leather bound screening rooms, smart resident’s lounges with butler service. This is world class living in a world class city.
Riverside developments have changed the face of the capital’s housing stock in a very short period of time in its history. The last 5 years, a mere blip, has afforded anyone with approximately ￡500,000 and above, to live a lifestyle that would have made the global elite raise an eyebrow of interest just a decade ago. Such diverse and luxurious amenities are available to residents whether they live in a studio flat or a triplex penthouse. Just don’t tell that beautiful lady or sexy stud in the Jacuzzi which one you own, unless of course it’s the penthouse.
As always, I include a selection of some of our finest properties for sale or sold with Knight Frank past and present.
