'As soon as you enter, you know that Veere Grenney designed it': designer's former home for sale for £3.65m

Grenney decorated the walls of his reception room with green velvet (Anderson Rose)
Grenney decorated the walls of his reception room with green velvet (Anderson Rose)

“‘I think it’s always very nice to make things unique for yourself, and cosy, which is what a house is all about,” said interior designer Veere Grenney of his Grade II-listed central London townhouse in an interview with House & Garden. The house, which Grenney bought in 2011 and sold in 2021, according to the Land Registry, has a bold colour palette —walls of burnt orange and moss green velvet— and dramatic, classical-inspired interiors. And now, with his designs virtually untouched, the house is back on the market again.

“If you go into a Soho House, you know it’s a Soho House the minute you walk through the door,” says Scott Joseph, director of listing agents Anderson Rose. “As soon as you go through the door of this house, you know that Veere Grenney designed it.”

The property is a listed Georgian terrace on Portsea Place, close to Hyde Park (Anderson Rose)
The property is a listed Georgian terrace on Portsea Place, close to Hyde Park (Anderson Rose)

Grenney, dubbed a “master of contrasts”, is famous for designs which marry classicism with modernity. After buying the Georgian terrace on Portsea Place, a cul-de-sac in Connaught Village, he “completely transformed it”, says Joseph, who sold the property for Grenney in 2021. “He took it back pretty much to the brickwork and started again.”

Today, Grenney’s former home covers 2,170 square feet over four floors, with four bedrooms and three reception rooms. There are two bedrooms on the lower ground floor, plus a TV room, with a kitchen, sitting room and dining room on the floor above. The top two storeys house a bold double reception room and study, with the master suite occupying the entire top floor. Outside, there is a roof terrace and a garden.

“It’s all about the colour scheme,” says Joseph. “He’s got a darker, rustic vibe and colour scheme going on. It’s the attention to detail.” In the sitting and dining rooms, Grenney added a detailed, Venetian patterned wallpaper, with matching curtains. The TV room has bright, burnt orange walls, while those in the hallway are dark green.

The double reception room is decorated in a striking green silk velvet, used in a number of Grenney’s other designs. On one wall is a large marble fireplace, flanked by busts on the walls; opposite are 16 framed drawings, arranged symmetrically. “I always think that it’s great to be brave with colour,” said Grenney in the House & Garden interview. “You very much have ownership over what you’re doing.”

The property's current owner has not made changes to Grenney's design (Anderson Rose)
The property's current owner has not made changes to Grenney's design (Anderson Rose)

Grenney’s master bedroom is home to a dramatic four-poster bed, with its drapes —white linen with gold silk trimming— matching the curtains.

The house, says Joseph, was carefully designed by Grenney to maximise storage: full of hidden cupboards and smart design, like the triangular, space-saving desk in one of the bedrooms. All of the furniture, from the four-poster bed to the oval-shaped wooden dining table, was hand-selected or designed specifically for the property. And when its current owner, a businesswoman then based in China, bought it during the pandemic —only a week after it was listed for sale— she bought it in its entirety, furniture included.

“She loved his work,” says Joseph. “She fell in love with [the property] online. She wanted to make an offer based on the photos, but I said: ‘Come and see it first. If you still love it, make the offer.’ And she did.”

“She hasn’t changed a thing, apart from bringing in some of her own furniture,” Joseph adds. “There were items of furniture that she asked to keep: the dining table downstairs; the bed in the principal bedroom. She loved the style. A lot of the furniture that’s in there was his too, because it went hand in hand.”

The owner acquired much of Grenney’s bespoke furniture, including his four-poster bed (Anderson Rose)
The owner acquired much of Grenney’s bespoke furniture, including his four-poster bed (Anderson Rose)

The owner relocated to London after buying the property and has lived there permanently since. She is now selling due to a change in circumstances, making the property surplus to requirements. It has been listed for £3.65 million with Anderson Rose. For those wondering, the furniture is also available by separate negotiation.

Grenney, meanwhile, downsized to an apartment in an Art Deco block in Chelsea, which he has similarly reconfigured and imbued with his own distinctive design. He also owns a villa in Tangier and an 18th century house in Suffolk.

Joseph believes that the house is likely to appeal to a buyer downsizing from a larger property in the area, or possibly someone looking for a more affordable alternative to the larger houses in nearby Connaught Village.

“I think that the person that buys the house is more than likely going to love it and leave it as it is, rather than putting their own stamp on it,” says Joseph. “It’s one where some people will walk in and say: ‘not for me’, and others will love it. It will take that one person that falls in love with it. That was her [the current owner]. We’re just waiting to find that person again.”