6 bedroom house

The magnificent Pagoda House offers elegant and beautifully presented accommodation over three floors.

Location

The Pagoda House is located on St James’s Lane, a short distance from the heart of historic Winchester, the cathedral and Winchester College, and within walking distance of the pedestrian shopping centre with access to a wealth of shops, restaurants and recreational facilities including the Theatre Royal and local cinema. The nearby water meadows of St Cross stretch along the banks of the River Itchen from the College and lead on to St Catherine’s Hill, which can be seen from the property.

Winchester is 60 minutes by train from London Waterloo. The M3 motorway (junctions 9, 10 and 11) are within easy reach, and make access to both London and Southampton readily available. Southampton International Airport is easily commutable and can be accessed from the M27, which in turn opens up the South Coast and New Forest. The A34 to the north of the city provides access to Oxford, the Midlands, the A303 and the West Country.

Winchester’s famous college is a short distance from The Pagoda House, as is Pilgrims Prep School, and St Swithun’s Independent Prep and Secondary Girls School is on the outskirts of the city. Twyford Preparatory School is nearby, as is Prince’s Mead School at Kings Worthy. There are a number of well regarded state assisted schools in the area including Peter Symonds Sixth Form College in Winchester, and King Edward’s School in Southampton.

Description

The Pagoda House is a Grade II Listed house built in 1848 for Richard Andrews, the five-times Mayor of Southampton, known as the town’s own Dick Whittington. Andrews rose from humble origins to become one of the wealthiest men in the south of England.

Andrews built himself this extraordinary house in the Chinese style, seen as unique, flamboyant, a tour de for ce and whilst out of step with the architectural movement or fashion at the time, it was believed to be in keeping with Andrews’ extravagant nature. Andrews, who entered politics late in life entertained some of the most influential political figures on the continent at The Pagoda House, including the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi and leading Polish dissident Count Czariski.

The Pagoda House was bought by Winchester City Council in the mid 1930s. The property was then subdivided into three flats and occupied at some time by Water Board employees. This unsympathetic conversion was reversed in 1973 when the Bucknall-Hitchin Tutorial School occupied the building, and it returned to domestic use in the late 1970s. The Pagoda House went through 2 ownerships before being purchased by the current owners in 2001, their significant and exacting restoration programme involved structural repairs that focused on floors and balconies, internal alterations and the reinstatement of missing or decayed original details. The work carried out was given a Design Award by the City of Winchester Trust in 2007.

The magnificent Pagoda House offers elegant and beautifully presented accommodation over three floors extending in all to in excess of 5,000 sq ft. The property is perched on West Hill with a southerly aspect offering accommodation both internally and externally that fully embrace this wonderful position with far-reaching open views over the city to St Catherine’s Hill in the distance. This most distinctive property features a delightful trelliswork balcony that wraps around the front aspect of the house connecting an open conservatory with the orangery and running the full width of the property. It is one of the most recognisable properties in Winchester, a landmark house of great historical provenance.

There are too many period features to mention; every room has significant character, and each is finished to the same exacting standard. The ground floor features a superb and welcoming reception hall, a large kitchen/breakfast room, beautiful sitting room, guest bedroom suite with adjoining shower room and ground floor cloakroom. On the first floor the elegant drawing room with its beautiful views and balcony is undoubtedly the star attraction; however, the dining room, music room, pretty orangery and study are all extremely beautiful in their own right, as is the large open landing. A laundry and cloakroom complete the first floor accommodation. On the second floor the principal bedroom has a beautifully appointed and large adjoining bathroom with separate shower. There are four further bedrooms, separate cloakroom and bathroom. A cellar completes the accommodation in the main house. The property also benefits from two planning permissions, the first a single storey extension on the west side of the property see Winchester City Planning reference 19/01270/LIS The second planning permission 18/01677/FUL to reinstate a former house known as Rosehill, a four bedroom detached property offering four bedroom accommodation over two floors with a detached double garage. This would be sited in the area currently designated the rose garden and vegetable garden.

OUTSIDE
The gardens and grounds have been immaculately and beautifully transformed by the present owners. There are two driveways to the property, one immediately adjacent to the front of the house, the other leads up to the side of the property to a large parking and turning area adjacent to the garaging and summerhouse. The formal gardens are partly walled and separated by hedgerows and paths to create a number of rooms or areas each with its own distinct purpose or character. Immediately adjacent to the rear of the house is a delightful terraced area with central water feature surrounded by brick retaining walls with extensive and mature planting of specimen plants and shrubs. Beyond the retaining wall a pathway leads up to a large area of lawn with mature trees to the northern boundary. Iron gates lead through to a further
attractive area of ornamental garden with box hedging, this is in turn flanked with two further areas of garden, a rose garden and wild flower meadow. Beyond this area is a delightful vegetable and fruit garden with a greenhouse.

Outbuildings
Detached timber built double garage. Summerhouse.

Square Footage: 5012 sq ft

Acreage: 0.67 Acres

Directions

From central Winchester proceed in a southerly direction on Southgate Street, passing the cinema on the right-hand side and take the next right turn into St James Lane. Continue up St James Lane over the railway bridge and the entrance to The Pagoda House will be found on the right-hand side.

Marketed by: Savills, Winchester