Made in Chelsea

Could there be any better way of understanding how to design the perfect family home than living in the house next door? 

As a resident of the smart red-brick Queen Anne style townhouses of Chelsea’s Tite Street for 11 years, Cinzia knew from experience the houses are ideal family homes. She’s happily lived there with her husband and their four children, who’ve played football in nearby Battersea Park, rowed on the Thames at the bottom of the road and flourished at local independent schools. 

Yet anyone who has lived in an historic five-storey property will know their limits when it comes to the needs of modern living. When the half-renovated property next door came up for sale four years ago, Cinzia seized the chance to realise an ambition.

“It was always my wish to design the dream family house,” says Cinzia, who grew up in Rome. “We’d modified our own home, but next door gave me the chance to gut the whole property and start afresh from the bottom up. We’d even rented it when we were trying out the area.” 

She came to London 25 years ago for her work in finance, and with her husband, first owned a penthouse apartment in nearby Cheyne Walk. “We were attracted to Tite Street for its proximity to the river and the park and that it is only a short walk from all the action at Sloane Square, yet it’s lovely and quiet,” she says. 

She cherishes the “beautiful” light that helped turn Tite Street into an artists’ colony in the 1890s when renowned painters James Abbott McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent were residents, along with the playwright, Oscar Wilde their neighbour.

Having had significant experience of living with teenagers – her children are now 20, 18, 16 and 13 – Cinzia designed four bedrooms spacious enough for sleepovers and socialising. Meanwhile, the master suite, occupying a whole floor of its own, had to allow parents their own space and privacy. “The Salvatori marble in the bathrooms is very soothing,” she says of the neutral palate throughout. 

Another adaptation to the layout of the 1877- built home is the generously sized living room on the ground floor – with terrace. “We moved the stairs to provide a large, uninterrupted space,” she says. “A fast, large and efficiently positioned lift was also essential – there have been too many times when I’ve had to run up and down lots of stairs to fetch things that the children have forgotten!”

A keen cook, Cinzia has naturally made the kitchen the heart of the home, a wonderfully light-filled space in the basement, superbly equipped with her favourite Gaggenau appliances, veined marble splashbacks and a hideaway pantry. A glass extension opens out onto the garden, its side walls discreetly sound-proofed. “I also know just how noisy young children can be,” she laughs, no doubt anticipating new neighbours. 

“It is essential in my mind to have a large space for everyone to gather as a family, to eat, to study, to talk,” she says, sitting at the long, Scandinavian wood table that seats 12. Her favourite space in the house, it also leads onto accommodation ideally suited for a live-in au pair.

At the very top of the house is a roof terrace, complete with an outdoor kitchen. “We’ve had wonderful parties looking at the river and the London skyline – especially the fireworks on New Year’s Eve,” she says, pointing out the Shard and the London Eye. 

When this immaculate house has been so carefully designed and is ready to move right into, surely she’s tempted to do just that? “My children tell me I’ve done just a great job, why can’t we move in?” she laughs. “I had such fun designing it, now I am looking forward to seeing another family enjoy living there.” 

Tite Street has a guide price of £11,950,000. To make an enquiry, contact christian.lock-necrews@knightfrank.com. Explore more properties for sale in Chelsea, or contact one of our agents to request a market appraisal.