Existing home
- Three bedrooms, including a large principal bedroom
- Double reception room with two fireplaces
- Large kitchen/diner
- Separate bathroom and WC
- Loft used for storage
Viewing appointments open
Althorp Road · Bellevue Village, London SW17
An original house in the right place.
Perfect for a restoration or an architectural transformation.
A substantial semi-detached period house in Bellevue Village, in one family's hands for around 45 years and largely untouched since the 1970s.
Offers in excess of £1,650,000
3 bedrooms | 2 reception rooms | Freehold
Photograph to followFront elevation from Althorp Road
At a glance
The facts, first.
- Property type
- Semi-detached period house
- Tenure
- Freehold
- Bedrooms
- 3, including a large principal bedroom
- Reception rooms
- Double reception with two fireplaces
- Kitchen
- Large kitchen/diner
- Bathrooms
- Separate bathroom and WC
- Internal area
- Awaiting measured survey
- Outside
- Generous rear garden, patio and an unusually wide side return area
- Side access
- Roofed side access for bikes, buggies and storage
- Parking
- Controlled parking (permit)
The house as it is
Generous rooms, original detail, and decades of life.
Behind the front door is a house of real proportion: a long double reception, a large kitchen/diner, three bedrooms and a garden reached by an unusually wide side return. Much of what was built in has stayed — floorboards, sash windows, fireplaces, cornicing, banisters and fitted shelves.
Photograph to followDouble reception room, front
Two rooms, two fireplaces
The double reception runs front to back, with a fireplace in each half and timber floorboards throughout.
Photograph to followCornicing and ceiling rose
Detail that has survived
Cornicing, ceiling roses, sash windows, stair banisters and fitted shelving — kept rather than replaced.
Photograph to followThe red kitchen cupboards
A kitchen lived in
A large kitchen/diner with the family's red cupboards, opening towards the garden.
Gallery · 18 photographs
Room by room.
Select any photograph to view it full screen. Use the arrow keys or buttons to move through the house.
Explore the opportunity
Restore it, transform it, or add to it.
A substantial period house that has not been opened up, extended or modernised in decades. For the right buyer that is the point: the original fabric is still here, and the decisions about what comes next have not been made for you.
Restoration
Keep the bones and bring them back: repair the sash windows, floorboards, fireplaces, cornicing and banisters, update services, and let a well-proportioned period house be itself again.
Architectural transformation
Work with an architect to rethink the plan — a reconfigured ground floor opening to the garden, a new kitchen in a side-return extension, more light and a stronger link between house and garden.
Adding space
The unusually wide side return, the loft currently used for storage and the generous rear garden are the obvious starting points for extra space, whether a loft room, a side extension or a garden studio.
What the scale suggests
- An unusually wide side return
- Existing side access to the garden
- A generous rear garden
- Loft space currently used for storage
Potential to explore
- Extending into the side return
- Converting the loft
- A garden room or studio
- Reconfiguring the ground floor
These are ideas to explore, not promises. Any alteration is subject to planning permission or permitted development rights, building regulations, party wall matters, title checks and the buyer's own surveys and professional advice.
Documents
Floor plan and documents
A measured floor plan with room dimensions and total internal area will be published here, alongside a two-page property summary.
- Measured floor plan (PDF)To follow
- Property summary (PDF)To follow
Floor plan to followGround floor · First floor
The history of the house
From common land to Althorp Road.
Until the 1860s this corner of Battersea was open fields on the edge of Wandsworth Common. The house stands on one of the first streets laid out when that land was sold for building.
1848–53
The local landowner Henry McKellar encloses a twenty-acre wedge of common land between what are now Trinity Road and St James's Drive. It becomes known as McKellar's Triangle.
1863
McKellar dies, and the land, still empty fields, is sold with the rest of his estate to the National Freehold Land Society and the British Land Company.
1864
The British Land Company's surveyors lay out Althorp, Nottingham and Wiseton Roads. The house plots are sold at auction that summer. Owning a freehold plot of this size gave its owner the right to vote. Althorp Road takes its name from Althorp, the Northamptonshire seat of the Spencer family, who owned the manor and Wandsworth Common from 1763.
1867–78
Althorp Road fills with houses: a row of small two-storey cottages around 1867, Henry Smith's palazzo-style Smith's Terrace around 1869–70, and a pair of larger semi-detached villas by a Balham builder in 1878.
Victorian era
The street mixes homes and small trades. Survey of London records a dairy with cow-sheds and stabling on Althorp Road, a reminder of how rural the area still was.
1925
The London Gazette lists Wilfred Rumsey Tippins, a shipping clerk of Gorst Road, Wandsworth Common, as about to be registered with HM Land Registry as freehold owner of "land and buildings, 46 Althorp Road".
c. 1980 to today
One family has owned the house for around 45 years and changed little, so much of its original fabric is still in place.
David was the most recent member of our family to live here, and a popular member of the local community. He worked as a graphic artist for advertising companies, until the trade went digital and the work disappeared. He loved cycling, a chicken jalfrezi and a glass of red wine. Oh, and cats.
Other earlier owners and occupants, and the exact build date, haven't been confirmed yet. The census returns of 1871–1921, the 1939 Register, old street directories and the Wandsworth Heritage Service can fill in the gaps.
A family house, long held
“We love the area and are torn about letting it go. But the house needs younger people now, to give it a new lease of life.”
Explore the village
Bellevue Road, and the Common across the street.
Bellevue Road is the small high street of Bellevue Village, running along the southern edge of Wandsworth Common. It has the feel of a village parade: a short run of independent shops, cafés, restaurants and two pubs, with quiet streets of houses leading off it and the Common across the road.
Eat and drink
- Chez Bruce — Acclaimed modern French/European restaurant facing the Common, and a long-standing local landmark.
- Brinkley's Kitchen — Relaxed restaurant with an open kitchen and outdoor terrace.
- Pizza Da Valter — Independent sourdough pizza restaurant.
- The Good Earth — Long-established Chinese restaurant and takeaway.
- Flotsam & Jetsam — Popular neighbourhood café on Bellevue Parade.
- Prestige and Caffè Nero — Coffee, pastries and pavement tables.
Pubs
- The Hope — Corner pub on the edge of the Common, known for Sunday roasts and brunch.
- The Althorp — Pub with a garden, right by the Common — handy after a walk.
Shops
Day-to-day needs are close by: a greengrocer, a Sainsbury's Local and a convenience store, a pharmacy and dry cleaner, plus independent boutiques, hairdressers, beauty salons and interiors shops along the parade.
Wandsworth Common
Across the road is Wandsworth Common: around 177 acres of grassland, woodland, meadows and ponds, protected by the Wandsworth Common Act of 1871 and recognised as a site of borough importance for nature conservation. It is used for dog walks, running, picnics, sport and nature walks, and has the Skylark Café at its heart. The Friends of Wandsworth Common run walks, talks and volunteering through the year.
Visit the Friends of Wandsworth Common websitePractical questions
Before you call.
Is this a private sale?
Yes. The house is being sold privately by the family, without an estate agent. Viewings are arranged directly with Polly.
How do I arrange a viewing?
Viewings are by appointment only. Please call or WhatsApp Polly on 07989 173 391.
What is the tenure?
The house is freehold.
What is the council tax band?
Band F.
Which is the local authority?
Wandsworth Council.
Which schools are nearby?
Closest to Bellevue Village are Finton House, an independent prep school for ages 4–11 on Trinity Road, and Fircroft Primary School, the nearest state primary, in Upper Tooting. Trinity St Mary's CofE Primary is also close by. For older children, Ernest Bevin Academy (rated Good by Ofsted) is the nearest secondary school, in Tooting. Popular schools on the far side of Wandsworth Common and in Balham are within reach too.
Is the house in a particular school's catchment?
Places at state schools are allocated each year according to their own admissions rules, so catchment can change. Please check the latest admissions criteria with Wandsworth Council and each school directly, and visit the schools yourself.
Is there an EPC?
A valid Energy Performance Certificate will be published here once issued.
Is there parking?
Parking is controlled, by permit. The house has roofed side access, useful for bikes, buggies and storage.
What condition is the house in?
The interior is largely unmodernised and has not been updated since the 1970s/80s. It is not offered as a finished, turnkey home.
Can I see further documents?
Ask Polly when you call. Additional documents are shared where appropriate and reviewed.
How will offers be handled?
After viewings, we invite you to send a written proposal with your offer, together with proof of funds and your proposed timescale, to polly@46althorproad.co.uk. If at that stage there are a number of similar offers, we will probably go to sealed bids and ask you to submit your best and final offer by a particular date.
Arrange a viewing