Mystery solved! It’s Sherlock who bought £2.7m pad
IT could have been the start of a Sherlock Holmes riddle – a magnificent mansion is bought by a mysterious buyer and then hidden from view by giant hoardings.
Now, after more than a year, the secretive owner of the three-storey Victorian home can be revealed as the famous sleuth himself – or at least the star who plays him on TV, Benedict Cumberbatch.
The actor, 39, bought the £2.7million home in North London in April last year but has never moved in. However, his identity has finally been revealed in a planning application to Camden Council to bring the fivebedroom home up to scratch for his family.
Like many other luvvies, he has submitted plans for a basement extension – and that is already causing consternation among neighbours. There are fears his proposal to build a boiler room under the front garden
‘A frisson of excitement’
might create noise. Cumberbatch, who is married to Sophie Hunter, 38, and has a son who was born last year, also hopes to extend the attic to create an extra room.
One neighbour told the local newspaper: ‘There was a little frisson of excitement that he was moving into the neighbourhood… But the excitement quickly turned to boredom and then displeasure after his builders put up ugly black hoardings.’
Another said: ‘We don’t know if it’s going to be this big noisy boiler room or not – and the council and architects can’t seem to make their minds up.’
Cumberbatch bought the house following the death of its previous owner, solicitor Judy Walker who was renowned for her annual Bonfire Night party.
In relation to the boiler room, Camden Council has said it may order an ‘acoustic report’. The actor’s architects, Charles Tashima, said the plans ‘would respect and preserve the original design’.