The Grade II listed Georgian-style property on Highgate West Hill is the city’s largest privately-owned residence after the famous royal palace.
But the money that built it between 1913 and 1920 came not from a crowned head of Europe, but from humble soap and cleaning products.
Sir Arthur Crosfield inherited money from the family business to build the 100-room house on an 11-acre plot with Italianate style gardens designed by Harold Peto.
It became a magnet for high society, hosting lavish parties in the 70-foot ballroom and grounds – with Wimbledon stars and royals, including the late Queen Elizabeth, attending tennis parties on the courts.
Sir Arthur became a Liberal MP and is credited with leading the campaign to rescue the Kenwood estate from developers between 1918 and 1925 – raising funds to ensure it remained part of Hampstead Heath for future generations to enjoy.
When he died in 1938 – falling from a train in the south of France – his heirs found it hard to maintain and the huge mansion became derelict.
The family sold it in 1970, it changed hands again in 1976 for £1.3 million then passed through a succession of owners and developers – with the BBC using it to film its talent show Fame Academy between 2002-2004.
It was finally bought for a reputed £50 million in 2008 by a company linked to a Russian businessman who initiated a massive restoration and extension to turn it back into a private 25-bed home – adding a 70-foot underground swimming pool, a two-storey cinema suite and a three-storey orangery.
But while the house itself is no longer on English Heritage’s register of buildings at risk, four of the original Grade II listed sculptures surrounding the pond in the Italianate Garden are deemed to be in poor condition with high vulnerability and a state of slow decay.
According to English Heritage, the carved statues stood on rectangular plinths include two male, and two female figures who may represent the four seasons.
They are thought to have been made in 1913 probably by Harold Peto as part of a grand design for the four acre gardens that included a walled garden, tennis pavilion and elaborate terraces a pergola and a fountain.
