FIRST HOMES OF THE STONES
And what they’d cost them now
IT WAS the summer of 1965 and the Rolling Stones were riding high with their third No1 hit, The Last Time. The money was starting to roll in. Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Keith Richards decided to move out of the ‘squalid’ flat they shared in ‘an unfashionable part of Chelsea’ and rent their own homes. Photographer Bent Rej captured the moment and now his pictures have been published in a new book. RAY CONNOLLY visits the Stones’ first pads.
Keith Richards: The high life on Park Lane
It takes a certain kind of self-belief to rent yourself a serviced suite in the Hilton Hotel, with a balcony and a view of Hyde Park, at the age of 21. But that’s what keith Richards did in 1965. He wears a burgundy jean jacket with his guitar propped behind him. the apartment cost him roughly £28 a night. If he were to live there today, it would cost £1,929 a night.
the following year, 1966, keith bought the Redlands estate, in West Wittering, West sussex, . He still lives there, as well as in his home in Connecticut in the U.s.
In May 1968, he also bought the grand No 3 Cheyne Walk, in Chelsea, selling it in 1978.
Brian Jones: Gold disc and gold wallpaper
BAREFOOT i n his opulent rented Chelsea flat with its expensive but terrible gold wallpaper, this was where Brian Jones, 23, would stay for almost a year.
Believe it or not, the radiogram was stateof-the art at the time. Note the photo of himself and the gold disc on top.
In a couple of months’ time the group’s signature song ( I Can’t Get No) satisfaction would be released. It would become their fourth British No 1 and their first chart-topper in the U.s. they would soon become world superstars.
this elm Park Lane flat, in the best part of Chelsea, would have been worth around £10,000 in 1965. It is valued at around £2 million today.
In 1968, Jones bought Cotchford farm, in Hartfield, sussex — once the home of Winnie-the-Pooh author a.a. Milne.
In July 1969, he died in the swimming pool after taking a midnight swim high on drugs and drink. In May 2012, the house went on sale for £2 million. It is now worth between £2.5 and £3 million.
Bill Wyman: Family home over a garage in Penge
THERE was nothing sophisticated about married Bill Wyman’s first flat over a garage in Penge, south london. But his place looks reassuringly unpretentious, with its radiogram, reel-to-reel tape recorder and orderly collection of albums, although the Kingston trio are a surprisingly ‘square’ choice for a rock star. at 28, he was the oldest stone
it’s estimated that the property — 8 Kenilworth Court — would have cost roughly £4,000 in 1965. its current value is around £275,000.
in 1968, Wyman bought Gedding hall — a 15th- century country house i n Bury st edmunds, suffolk, from the godfather of the notorious Kray twins. Wyman still lives in the property, which has 15 acres and is worth £4 - £5 million. he left the band in 1993.
Mick Jagger: Sleek teak and two blue telephones
IN his modern, rented, uncluttered mews flat just north of Marble arch, with its trendy sixties teak room divider, bare other than for two candlesticks and a vase, Mick Jagger, 22, stands as nonchalantly arrogant as any young businessman. Certainly the two telephones would not have been easy to acquire in 1965.
in the mid-sixties, 13a Bryanston Mews east, in Paddington, West london, would have cost about £8,000 to buy.
the mews property is estimated to be worth £820,336 today. Jagger moved out in 1966.
Within a few years of these pictures being taken, all the stones lived in mansions and photographers were rarely welcome inside to record how they lived.
Jagger now has a property empire. his main london home is in Chelsea and was bought for £10 million in 2006.
he also owns a Georgian mansion on richmond hill, south-West london, bought for £2.5 million in 1993, a New York apartment, a 16th- century chateau in France’s loire valley, a £1.5 million Paris apartment and a villa on the private Caribbean island of Mustique bought for £2 million in 2006.
Charlie Watts: A mansion flat before a real mansion
Charlie Watts, 23, was ever the natty dresser. Wearing a shirt that matches the curtains and standing on the stripped pine floor of the rented mansion flat he shared with his wife shirley near london’s regent’s Park, the drummer’s taste betrayed his art school education.
the ivor Court flat in, Gloucester Place, Marylebone, would have cost about £5,000 in 1965. it is now a sought-after part of london and the current value is estimated at £340,000.
Charlie and his wife now live in halsdon house, Dolton, North Devon — a sevenbedroom property, with stables boasting an arabian horse stud farm. the entire property is certain to be worth several million.