Shore to impress
IT’S not quite Rivendell – but this picturesque property has got more than a touch of Middle-earth magic. The 27-room Victorian house is in a spectacular position, looking out to the sand and sea, in Crosby, Merseyside. And if Beach Lawn, currently on the market for £1,750,000, seems familiar it might be because it played a starring role in the biopic about Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit author J.R.R. Tolkien, released in May. Beach Lawn was used as the set for the Edgbaston boarding house where Tolkien met his wife, Edith, at the age of 16. And it’s not the first time the imposing sea-view property has featured on the big – and small – screen. Fans of period drama may have spotted it on Island at War, the 2004 ITV mini-series, and The Forsyte Saga, broadcast in 2002. Built in 1876, the impressive Grade II listed building is one of 15 similarly styled houses hailed in Joseph Sharples Pevsner’s Guide to Liverpool as the most striking example of Italianate architecture in England! It still has many original features, including a magnificent churchstyle stained-glass dome surrounded by original paintings with gold leaf, a galleried oak staircase and fantastic fireplaces, constructed by renowned architect James Francis Doyle for James Barrow. Home to one family, which has lovingly restored it for the last 20 years, the period property overlooks Crosby Beach and Antony Gormley’s famous Another Place – an art installation featuring 100 cast iron men placed at intervals along the shoreline. Set across four floors including a basement, it has an elegant drawing room, dining room, kitchen and nine bedrooms connected by three staircases... there’s even a servants’ staircase. At the rear is a mature garden and access to an original Victorian motor house. Dan Pennington, director of estate agents Century 21 Liverpool, says: “When you step inside it’s like being on the set of a period drama – it’s simply breath-taking.”
Beach Lawn is priced at £1,750,000. See century21uk.com for more details