Introduction:
Located only 30 minutes from Central London Denham Place is one of the UK's most important country houses. Built in 1688, its owners have included Bonaparte royals, American Banker JP Morgan, Harry Saltzman, the "Bond" producer, an eclectic but important mix. After an eight-year restoration completed recently, the estate now includes 12 reception rooms, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, family and catering kitchens a private chapel, a cinema, and the grounds laid out with inspiration from Versailles.
And it's on the market for 75 million pounds. I'd like to introduce you to Alex Kravetz, lead designer on the restoration, a fount of knowledge So welcome to the Great Hall, the main entrance to the house where people would normally arrive from the magnificent drive we just came through.
When I first arrived at this property it was actually an office building. Plenty of things were not in existence or were completely covered up. As an initial layer to begin the design, we had to study all the archives and understand what was here before. This room was significant in the sense that it had the monogram on the ceiling of one of the original owners.
So Reginald Hill was the original mastermind behind this house when it was built in 1688. So we proceed to the drawing room, the main reception of the house. In the old days where the entrance used to be opening up right here. So imagine arriving in this room when it was still an office block and you see all the walls painted completely white and all of a sudden you start uncovering all the layers after layers.
There is so much history in this place that you really need to go on a treasure hunt and reconstruct what every generation contributed. Benjamin Way, the later inheritor of the house, actually changed the entrances from what was customary at the time. And from the grand reception, this becomes a drawing room.
It's for the entire family to come together. In terms of restoration, it's a beautiful room in yellow. It was quiet, significant at the time to make things very happy. Every single piece here was restored to its original grandeur.
The main music room comes from the musical instruments right in the center of the ceiling. As you can see, is almost like another drawing room, but of a different type. It's less formal, it's more for entertainment. That's where music comes into play. So we have this beautiful Bechstein old piano which was also totally restored.
And you can just see this incredible ceiling, which we had to do full restoration on. It was actually sinking under the weight of the floors above. And this was all done at the time by the English craftsman. And you can see a French influence that comes from the historical connotation of the Napoleon Bonaparte family staying at Denham.
The wool lights were actually produced by a French company that's responsible for the restoration of the Louvre as well as Versailles. And they were brought to the house to bring their expertise as well. A large part of the design brief was not only to restore this amazing property but also to create a home.
That was the most challenging part, to create the home within the palace.
Beautiful ceiling work and that is completely different from the music room next door. This one is very primitive in its style by the local English craftsmen in the 1700s. And that tells us the story of Denham Village. You can actually see the bridge going over the river which is still there today. Part of our work was also to peel off all the historical layers of paint and by chemical analysis do a complete reproduction of what was there at the time.
So the color is as restored as they were originally produced. It's actually one of the most original interiors still preserved as it was built in 1688. You can see it's a magnificent space, beautiful as a private office, but also amazing as a meeting room.
And on the ceiling, you can see the fresco that is taken tribute to Paolo Charles's Battle of Sanjimenjana, which is in the National Gallery in London. We also have the original cherub. And this space is just incredible. It was so incredible that it was used for filming one of the "James Bond" films when Harry Saltzman was in residence.
He actually reproduced this library back at the film studios next door for the film. And the floor is made from leather, hand and boss produced in Florence specifically for this house. [lo-fi piano music] This is the cinema room. We're in the lower ground floor.
We've all also done is decorated the vaulted ceilings with the 24 carat gold frescoes. We had a team of artists working here for five months, all hand painted. And this ceiling was actually one of the most amazing features up on the completion of the house. Here's another unique space, and that is a bond bar.
We've created this space specifically for entertainment.
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