Overlooking Lambeth Bridge, Parliament and the River Thames, developer St Edward has created The Heritage Collection, five superlative Grade II-listed homes at Westminster’s 9 Millbank. Situated within the former Imperial Chemical Industries’ (ICI) headquarters, each exquisite property captures essential British heritage, celebrating a bygone era of craftsmanship and style.
Millbank took its name from a 14th-century mill serving Westminster Abbey and the banks holding back the Thames. Constructed between 1927 and 1929, the neoclassical Portland stone building of 9 Millbank stood as a physical symbol of ICI’s global influence. Upon its impressive façade are four sculptures by sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger, representing the construction, marine transport, agriculture and chemistry industries in which ICI operated. The imposing entrance features immense doors reminiscent of the celebrated Ghiberti gates of the Baptistery in Florence. Cast in bronze sprayed with Silveroid, a copper/nickel alloy, each weighs 21 tons and has six panels illustrating the progress of industry under the application of science. The building was incredibly advanced for its time: the first in the world to be lit by ‘artificial daylight’; employees breathed air freshened by an ozone plant and enjoyed central heating and cooling in summer.
Throughout The Heritage Collection St Edward has respected the original hierarchy and proportions, transforming larger rooms like boardrooms and directors’ dining halls into grand entertaining spaces, whilst secretaries’ offices and postal messenger rooms have been repurposed as impressive bedrooms and bathrooms. Artisans were commissioned to restore or replicate the 1920s features: marble lines the walls and floors of hallways and staircases; doorways, doors, dados and panelling are of limed Austrian oak; metal door furniture, balustrades and lifts of Silveroid. Carved architraves, hand-cut timber panelling, ornate decorative plasterwork and cornicing, all subject to enhanced protection by Historic England, have been painstakingly repaired.
The five apartments have been designed by London-based interior design studio, Goddard Littlefair. The Conrad, a former boardroom on the sixth floor, is now a dramatic double-height reception room with windows overlooking the river. Flooded with natural light, this space includes a spiral staircase to a mezzanine library. St Edward has paired the architecture with a classically British palette of colours, materials and artwork in homage to London’s reputation for quality craftsmanship. Herringbone parquet flooring and monochrome tones are offset by aged oaks, rich leathers and beautiful silks.
A private colonnaded terrace, accessible from all principal rooms, offers river views towards Parliament and the City. Beneath it sit busts of eight influential scientists from Alfred Nobel to Joseph Priestly, discoverer of oxygen.
Starting from £18,000,000, The Heritage Collection includes The Conrad, The Astor, The Walpole, The Gainsborough and The Somerset. Amenities include a gym, swimming pool with spa and treatment room, cinema screening room, meeting rooms, secure underground parking and 24-hour concierge.
Executive Chairman, Paul Vallone comments: ‘Working closely with the best historic building consultants, craftsmen and designers, St Edward is able to offer The Heritage Collection of five world-class apartments unlike anything else in the city, to a global audience seeking the quintessential London home.’
