Property in London: Islington

When Sandra and Bay Hodgson bought their double-fronted house across the road from Highbury Fields, it was, at £28,000, the most expensive property in Islington. That was in 1966. Now the house in Highbury Place, N5, is on the market again and it's still the most expensive home in the area, but this time the asking price is £5.95 million.

Not only is it a huge house of more than 3,600 sq ft over five floors, it also has a coach-house, a 120ft-long garden with a "secret garden", and behind that a further 3,800 sq ft of land with 19 garages, which have been let continuously and bring in about £20,000 a year. With planning permission, they could be turned into a valuable development site.

"I saw some very nice little eco-houses the other day and I'm thinking that I might keep the garages and develop them myself," says Mrs Hodgson, who is selling her home of the past 40 years. "My husband died three years ago and this huge house is wasted on me."

The house, part of a terrace designed by James Spiller, was built in 1774-75. The freeholder made a covenant to ensure the land facing the terrace could never be built on. This is where Highbury Fields is today. Spiller's terrace became popular; residents have included John Wesley, Joseph Chamberlain - the father of Neville Chamberlain - and Walter Sickert, the artist, who ran an art school at another house in Highbury Place in the late 1920s.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2007/11/08/lp19cars108.xml

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