‘A Footprint In History’: Why Home Buyers Are Falling Back In Love With Old Chelsea

Ahead of our upcoming Chelsea Arts Festival, we’re reflecting on all the things that make Chelsea such an iconic slice of London. While naysayers may argue that area has lost the status it once possessed, Anna Tyzack discovers how Old Chelsea has regained its foothold as one of London’s most historic and characterful neighbourhoods and why buyers are falling back in love with its charming community.

How Old Chelsea Neighbourhood Is Regaining Its Iconic Status

Hidden behind walls and trees, The Old Rectory in Chelsea is a Georgian country estate in the heart of London with a ballroom and a two-acre garden. For the past 24 years, it’s been home to Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen and is now reported to be on the market, discreetly, for £250m. ‘There is nothing better in the Royal Borough,’ says Alex Woodleigh-Smith, founder and managing director of property finders AWS Prime Property. ‘It has the ultimate scarcity value, a true one of one.’

Fredriksen, however, will not be looking to cut a deal: in 2004, when former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich offered to buy the house for £100m, he was quickly rebuffed. But much has changed since then. London has evolved, and the wealthiest buyers don’t necessarily flock to Chelsea. Mayfair and St James’s are now more obvious addresses: in London’s super prime property market (homes priced at £10m plus), these neighbourhoods now account for 18 percent of annual sales, up from eight percent a decade ago. Chelsea’s share is also 18 percent, having fallen from 33 percent in 2019.

The Old Rectory in Old Chelsea, is an ancient riverside village with narrow streets and buildings that are often wonky rather than grand or imposing – which, according to Woodleigh-Smith, has its own particular cachet. Purists define Old Chelsea as the maze of streets between Beaufort Street and Oakley Street, with the river to the south and the King’s Road to the north. But many agents also include Cheyne Walk, where Henry James and Mick Jagger used to live, and the streets south of the Royal Hospital, home to Oscar Wilde, John Singer Sargent and now the luxury property developer Nick Candy, whose house there is almost as large as The Old Rectory.

‘The area is compact and not as grand or buzzy as other parts of Chelsea, but the houses are large and they have gardens, and the streets aren’t cut-throughs, so you have plenty of privacy,’ explains Jamie Davidson, associate director of John D Wood & Co. In terms of history, Old Chelsea blows other parts of prime central London out of the water. Henry VIII owned Chelsea Manor in the 16th century, having fallen for the area while visiting Thomas More, and four of his wives lived there at different times. In the 19th century, artists Turner and Whistler lived on Cheyne Walk, while historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle had a townhouse on Cheyne Row, where he entertained Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson. This house is now a National Trust museum.

In the sixties and seventies, Old Chelsea was considered cool and bohemian, an image that stayed with it long after the Rolling Stones had moved out. Americans, in particular, loved its bijou townhouses and old-school boozers. More recently, though, Old Chelsea has drifted off the radar – even for buyers specifically searching in Chelsea. According to William Duckworth-Chad, director of Savills Private Office, they have been more interested in the garden squares off the King’s Road – Markham Square and Chelsea Square, for example – and streets north of the King’s Road, such as Mulberry Walk.

‘These houses are less historic but more practical for modern living,’ he says. ‘The houses in Old Chelsea are higgledy-piggledy; the staircases wobble. Many of them are Grade I listed, which means they’re very difficult to change.’ As a result, houses have been taking longer to sell in Old Chelsea, and since the pandemic, prices have dropped by as much as 25 percent. ‘The value proposition is unbelievable,’ Woodleigh-Smith says. ‘Deals are being done but it’s very much a buyers’ market. There are some phenomenal opportunities out there, although for the best in class you’re not going to be the only buyer in town.’ He points out that across the Royal Borough, certain properties are now achieving the same pound per square foot as houses in Clapham and Wandsworth. ‘The last time this happened was in 2005,’ he continues. ‘It’s very rare that parity is reached between the premium prices south of the river and parts of a desirable prime area such as Chelsea.’

British buyers who have been largely priced out of this part of London for the past decade are relishing the more affordable prices and are making a comeback – along with buyers from Europe, many of whom have young families and want to put down roots. ‘With their wooden panelling and creaky floors, you feel as if you’re walking into a country house, which appeals to these buyers,’ Duckworth-Chad explains. ‘There are also historic pubs, the shops of the King’s Road and great schools, including Garden House and Francis Holland, within walking distance.’ Crucially, he continues, in contrast to other prime parts of central London, Old Chelsea still has a close-knit, vibrant community, with some families living there since the sixties. ‘It’s got a healthy dose of old-school British quirk,’ he says.

Christian Lock-Necrews, director of Winkworth Marylebone, Knightsbridge and Chelsea, describes Old Chelsea as a way of life rather than simply a location. ‘It’s one of London’s most charming neighbourhoods, with a historic soul and sense of belonging,’ he says. New-build properties are few and far between, but when new developments do come up for sale in the area, they tend to be tasteful – and fly off the shelf. Cheyne Terrace by Native Land, a development of 26 apartments with a pool on Chelsea Manor Street, sold out quickly when it launched in 2014. And there is only one apartment remaining at The Glebe, a gated development of eight residences off Glebe Place, with their own pools, gyms and underground parking, despite asking prices topping £45m.

‘It’s incredibly discreet and completely secure, which suits buyers looking in this area,’ says Richard Osborne-Young, director of residential development at Savills. Last year, a former convent on Tite Street was bought by developers London Square for £54m with a view to creating new homes with studio space for local artists. Andrew Dunn, founder and CEO of property development company Finchatton, whose London offices are on Royal Hospital Road, agrees that Old Chelsea is undervalued from an investment perspective – prices aren’t likely to stay this low. ‘It’s demonstrated remarkable resilience over time,’ he says.

What is good value in Old Chelsea will still be off limits to most of us, however. A four-bedroom house costs at least £4m, with the larger, more historic houses selling for more than £7m. A pied-à-terre in Cheyne Row recently sold for £2.6m; a house on Cheyne Walk sold for £27.5m despite having an underwhelming garden. To buy in Old Chelsea is to become a custodian rather than an owner, Woodleigh-Smith believes. ‘You’re committing to a certain type of ownership – a footprint in history – and there is a certain audience who is attracted by that,’ he says.

In the case of The Old Rectory, it’s an eye-wateringly expensive commitment, though. Will Fredriksen achieve his asking price? ‘We can safely say it’s one of the best houses in central London,’ Duckworth-Chad confirms. ‘But the air gets pretty thin at that price level.’ Its sale is likely to cement Old Chelsea back on the map.