London’s biggest ‘iceberg house’ keeps its glories tucked away, says Gary Parkinson

It is a truth universally acknowledged that we shouldn’t judge by external appearance, but the impulse remains: try turning up for a job interview in flip-flops. Similarly, if you see a low-key frontage in a former garage block, a tidy but hardly spectacular wooden fence masking a simple single storey beyond, you may not expect much from the property. 

But oh how wrong you would be. For this fence, in London’s exclusive Hampstead Heath area, hides a vast 3,451 sq ft abode described as the capital’s biggest “iceberg house” – one in which it’s all going on below, out of sight, and one which will punch a £4.7m hole in your bank balance.

Less than a decade old, Langtry House is a relative newcomer to the sedate lanes of Hampstead, where its neighbours include Boy George and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason. Tucked behind the sort of prestigious Victorian pile more readily associated with one of London’s most higher-class postcodes, it was a mere garage block until opportunity met innovation. 

At a funeral, the landowner met Tony Gibber, a songwriter whose tunes have been picked up by Bucks Fizz and Billy Ocean, not to mention advertisers from Barclays to Heathrow Express. Stringent planning restrictions forbade any newbuild taller than the existing 11ft-high garages… but why not build down?

Thus began a year of digging (300 lorryloads were excavated) and then a year of building as Langtry House grew not so much out of the ground as into it. Carefully tiptoeing around existing buildings and services, the design created a huge lower-ground floor, roughly treble the size of the surface build, swelling the property to a three-bed, three-bath subterranean behemoth by local standards.

The main worry with building downwards is a lack of light, but Langtry House feels more tropical than troglodyte. The ground floor’s full-height glazing grabs sunlight by the truckload and pours it – via a 25ft-tall double-height atrium – downstairs, where a sunken courtyard under a ground-floor void further illuminates proceedings.  

And what gorgeous proceedings they are. Largely dressed in modernist white, Langtry House is exquisitely appointed from Poggenpohl-packed kitchen to marble-tiled bathrooms. That sunken courtyard transmits natural light to the lower ground’s two bedrooms via full-height glazing. 

Indeed, there’s plenty to crane your neck at, the architecture taking your eyes on vertical journeys to emphasise height and create the feeling of space. Lit by a glass roof, that jaw-dropping central atrium houses the open-plan living/dining area, with the dramatic staircase’s combo of wooden treads and open risers typifying the design’s combination of quality material and thoughtful flow. Oenophiles will also love that the space below said staircase is occupied by a custom-built wine wall capable of holding 800 bottles. 

Elsewhere on the lower ground there’s a family room, plus another space which could be a home office or gym depending on your needs and wants, and the de rigueur fully soundproofed cinema room for when you do want to seal yourself away. 

And just to show that not everything is upside down, the proud owner will still take the classical route of going upstairs to bed: the master suite is on the ground floor, overlooking the front patio. 

As for that name, it also hides a story. It comes from Lillie Langtry, a Victorian-era actress and noted beauty. Her cousin Philip le Breton was chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, who campaigned hard to keep Hampstead Heath open for the public despite attempts by its aristocratic owners to enclose and sell it for construction. 

The success of said campaign may or may not have been linked to Lillie’s well-known affair with the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII – but for whatever reasons, the Heath remains free for all to enjoy. Langtry House may not be similarly public, but it honours the idea of freedom and fresh air – and reminds us that no matter what the external appearances, hidden depths may lurk. 

• Langtry House, £4.7m, via astonchase.com

Originally published by Metro, 2 Nov 2021