It’s Bertie Wooster’s bolthole
FOR SALE: £2.2m home where P.G. Wodehouse penned his famous tales
AS TWO of English literature’s most popular comic characters, aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his butler Jeeves have long held a place in the nation’s affections. The pair appeared in 17 collections of stories and numerous TV adaptations, most famously starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
Now a flat in the house where author P.G. Wodehouse lived while he was writing the hugely successful stories is on the market for £2.25 million. In fact, the secondfloor apartment in Dunraven Street, Mayfair, Central London, contains the actual study where Wodehouse – who lived at the address from 1927 to 1934 – wrote such collections as Very Good, Jeeves and Thank You, Jeeves.
While Wodehouse was living in the house he would have learned of a notorious murder involving a butler and his master that took place just a few doors along Dunraven Street. In 1840, in a case that gripped the nation, Francis Courvoisier was convicted and later executed for slitting the throat of Lord William Russell.
While the gruesome circumstances of the crime couldn’t have seemed further removed from the comic capers of Jeeves and Wooster, at Courvoisier’s trial it was revealed he previously grew so frustrated with his deaf and disabled master that he repeatedly tried to harm him with leaking hotwater bottles and by jabbing him with pins – perhaps inspiration for the more light-hearted comedy in the Wodehouse books.
The one-bedroom flat looks completely different now from when Wodehouse lived at Dunraven Street. Indeed, thanks to a comprehensive refurbishment, it is now the ultimate bachelor pad. The study where he wrote is now the master bedroom suite. Spacious, bright and airy, the room is blessed with French doors which open out on to a balcony.
The room that was used as a bedroom by Wodehouse’s adopted daughter Leonora has been turned into a west-facing reception room, and what was once a large storage cupboard is now a modern fully fitted kitchen.
A blue plaque proclaiming that Wodehouse lived at the property, which is divided into four apartments, was mounted in 1988 at a ceremony attended by the Queen Mother – she was a devout fan of the novelist.
Before Wodehouse, the house was the London home of Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke – a grandson of Queen Victoria, and a relative of Louis Mountbatten and Prince Philip. Alexander was the first member of the Royal Family to take a job – he was employed at Lazard Brothers bank and moved to Dunraven Street in 1917 when he married Lady Irene Denison. They lived there until 1920 when, after the birth of their daughter Iris, they moved into a grace-and-favour home in Kensington Palace.
More recently, fashion designer Alexander McQueen bought the lower floors of the house and had plans for a major renovation. Tragically these were never realised as he died in 2010, just two years after buying the property.
English Heritage’s rules stipulate that blue plaques cannot be mounted until at least 20 years after the resident’s death – so in 2030 or so, fans can expect McQueen’s occupancy of the house to be marked alongside that of Wodehouse.
BLUE plaques, of course, are not rare in this exclusive part of London, but the view from the back of the apartment offers a reminder that Mayfair is not only home to the rich and famous.
The flat looks over an estate run by the Peabody Trust, which comprises affordable homes, and it might surprise some to learn that this type of accommodation makes up 24 per cent of the area’s total housing stock.
The Duke of Grosvenor, who is the major landlord in Mayfair, has reportedly fought hard to maintain this level.
Peter Wetherell, of selling agents Wetherell, says: ‘This superb apartment is steeped in Mayfair history. It was once a Royal home, and it is where P.G. Wodehouse wrote some of the Jeeves and Wooster stories.
‘Dunraven Street is located close to Hyde Park and just a short stroll from Mount Street, which is Mayfair’s local high street.’