- Painter described 2,300 sq ft home over five storeys as a ‘little house’ in a letter
A house lived in by John Constable in Hampstead has gone on sale for almost £5million.
The Grade II-Listed property, which was home to the romantic painter between 1827 and 1837, has been put on the market for £4.995million.
The 19th century Georgian home is situated on Well Walk, just 200 metres from Hampstead Heath.
Constable, who grew up in East Bergholt, Suffolk, was famous for revolutionising landscape painting.
He moved to Hampstead with his children and wife Maria Bicknell after spending several summers in London.
In a letter written in 1828, he said of the leafy suburb, ‘Hampstead, sweet Hampstead’.
The neighbourhood went on to feature heavily in his work, with several of his paintings depicting the rolling hills and cloud formations.
He sketched and painted the view from the top of Heath dozens of times, with his work helping to recently restore the Branch Hill Pond, which had evaporated nearly two centuries ago.
Constable described the 2,398 sq ft property as a ‘little house’ in a letter to his friend Archdeacon Fisher in 1827.
He remained at the house until his death, aged 60, in 1937 and is buried at the nearby St John’s Church .
The period home, which has been ‘meticulously and totally restored’ by its current owneres, still contains many of the original fittings, including cast-iron fireplaces, windows and high ceilings.
No 40 Well Walk also comes with three bedrooms, two of which take up full floors in the five-storey building.
It also has a Shaker-style kitchen, a summer kitchen which doubles as a utility room, a walled garden facing the south east and even a wine store.
A blue plaque in memory of Constable was erected outside the property in 1923.
Agents Marcus Pickett told the Evening Standard that the home ‘ticks so many boxes for a lovely village home’ and is a ‘step back in time’.
He added that it was rare to get a Georgian property in ‘turnkey’ condition.
According to Zoopla, the property was last sold in August 2018 for £3,440,000.