You’ll feel like you’re walking into a Tom Ford boutique with its brushed stainless steel walls and gravity-defying white marble staircase.
Listed for $17.4 million, this stately London mansion was once owned by fashion icon, perfumer, and filmmaker Tom Ford.
This four-story Victorian looks clean and elegant on the outside, but on the inside, it’s all stainless steel, black glass, striated Macassar wood, and jet-black walls. Sexy is not an adequate word to describe it.
The house is believed to have been purchased by Ford in 1997 for £2.55 million, which was around $4.08 million at the time. Ford is credited with bringing Gucci and YSL back to life before launching his own brand in 2006.
The interior of the 3,700-square-foot house was gutted, and the Texan designer’s inimitable style was reflected in every room.
The home’s considerable appeal was no doubt its location in Chelsea’s A-list Boltons enclave, a swank enclave of just 30 Victorian houses.
Former neighbors include Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson, David Bowie and George Michael. It is rumored that Nick Rhodes, the keyboard player for Duran Duran, owned the home previously.
The house was listed in 2009 for £8.5 million, which is roughly $13.3 million, but it’s unclear how long Ford and Buckley lived there.
There is a possibility that the house was sold in an off-market deal between 2009 and 2012, with the new owner adding a third bedroom while leaving the fabulous Tom Ford design elements intact.
As a testament to Tom Ford’s creativity, the new owner left the house’s Tom Ford design features intact when he sold it in 2014 for £12 million ($18.7 million).
Black double gates, guarded by a barrage of security cameras, today lead to the white stucco façade of the home. Despite the appearance of the double-fronted mansion being freestanding in photos, it is actually joined to a row of similar-style houses on one side.
A single entrance door leads to the lobby, which is decorated with an alabaster marble open staircase and mirror-finished black glass walls. A reception room with black walls and black sofas is on one side and a dining room with wood panels on the other.
The reception room offers floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook a quiet, serene courtyard hidden behind towering trees and hedgerows.
Inside, stairs lead to the lower ground floor, which features a stainless steel and stark white kitchen, an ensuite bedroom, a compact gym, a steam room, and a wine cellar.
On the second level, there is a gorgeous Macassar wood-paneled study and a cozy, gray-paneled guest bedroom – there is no elevator in the residence.
A true Tom Ford suite can be found on the third floor with its jaw-dropping bedroom. It might seem strange to sleep in a steel box, but it works.
In the hallway, you will find the uninspiring white master bath and the huge dressing room filled with those trademark Tom Ford black suits and crisp white dress shirts.
Once you reach the top of the staircase, you can enjoy views of the London skyline from the rooftop deck.
Partner and head of Knight Frank’s sales, Charles Olver, says the house’s interior gives “an overall sense of being immersed in an exquisite piece of fine art.”
“With an interior created by none other than one of fashion’s biggest creative names, Tom Ford, perhaps you’d expect nothing less. But still prepare to be blown away,” he notes.
