Twelve weeks after coming on the market, the Surrey house used to portray the home of actress Maggie Smith's character, Lady Violet Crawley, found a buyer and recently closed along with several adjacent properties for nearly $9 million. Known as Dower House on the TV series, it was built around 1686.
The street's ultra-luxury towers - from the first generation of supertalls west of Sixth Avenue that shaped the skyline, to mixed-use developments eastward 'driving the next phase of growth' - offer a dense concentration of cultural and lifestyle capital, paired with direct access to Central Park.
A string quartet was playing in the hotel's lobby on our arrival, and the music drifted gently through to the Green Parlour as we took our tea. The tea room itself is unmilitary in style, with lots of soft greens and botanical art on the walls. For those who like their afternoon tea with bubbles, there's a choice of English sparkling wines at the Green Parlour.
The hotel is located on the historic Queenhithe Dock on the Thames, a natural inlet where Alfred the Great arrived in 886 to rebuild the city after it was abandoned by the Romans. Queen Matilda was granted the dues from the dock in the early 12th century, hence the name Queenhithe. Nowadays, the Westin London City is a perfect spot for visiting theatres and museums it has a spectacular view over Shakespeare's Globe and Tate Modern, which are just across the river.
Set beyond a fairly unassuming entrance - save for a red carpet lining the stone steps - Bertrand's Townhouse is a newly opened hotel (just this month, in fact) in London' s Bloomsbury neighborhood. Tucked down a street just off from the pretty Bloomsbury Square, the hotel is named for Bertrand Russell, the renowned British philosopher and writer. He was part of the Bloomsbury Set (sort of - he was considered to be more on the periphery), a network of British writers, artists, and intellectuals.
A magnificent leather and golden silk slipper believed to have once been worn, then lost, or given away by King James II, is going on display at Killerton, a mansion in Devon which houses the National Trust's costume collection. He is said to have worn the slippers when visiting Coventry in in 1687, where a grand banquet was held in his honour, and may have given them to one of his hosts.
Residents of One Hyde Park - which in the past included celebs like Kylie Minogue and various billionaire tycoons - have won a decade-long court case over piping issues that cost 35 million. However, it may take years for the issues to be fully resolved, which could mean more construction work and disruption to come. According to building experts who weighed in on the case, the building work is highly complex and focuses on faulty soldered joints and butterfly valves in the buildings.
Despite its proximity to one of London's busiest tourist attractions, its back street location is remarkably quiet and peaceful. Leading off Stafford Place, it was originally, and unsurprisingly, called Stafford Mews, as it was built as stabling for houses on Buckingham Gate, facing the palace. Constructed around 1860, the stables were simple two-storey houses, built initially with stables at the ground and accommodation above.
Even multimillionaires can't escape Britain's cowboy builders, it seems. Last week, residents of One Hyde Park, the UK's most expensive flats, won a 35m court case against the contractor that built their homes. The high court ordered the construction company Laing O'Rourke to fix defective pipework that was discovered to be causing problems in 2014, only three years after the luxury development was completed.
The committees not had a chance to reflect on these allegations because recess means Parliament isn't sitting this week. My task this week is to make sure that the committee's got options in front of them when they meet on Tuesday for how we might or might not take this investigation forward. Obviously, we can't and don't want to compromise a police investigation.
