For Sale: A classic St John’s Wood artist’s studio with contemporary touches
Clifton Studios, St John's Wood - Credit: Archant
Nowadays the St John’s Wood Clique is probably a Mean Girls-style troupe of bitchy teenagers.
Reception/kitchen - Credit: Archant
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, when the area was more closely associated with London bohemia than 4x4s and relocated finance workers, the moniker actually referred to a group of painters who lived in the area and provided a focal point for its artistic activity.
This mews house, currently on the market for £2,375,000, offers a backward glimpse to those days when St John’s Wood was a hub for artists when the property served as an artist’s studio for two prominent sculptors.
Blue plaque outside Clifton studios. Photo: Simon Harryiott - Credit: Archant
Marc Schneiderman, director of Arlington Residential, said: “Anybody who understands what true artist’s studios are about knows that they always face north because then you don’t get any direct sunlight so when artists are drawing or painting they don’t get any shadow. That’s why original, true artist’s studios are all north facing.
“It’s unusual in St John’s Wood to find studios like that nowadays. Over the years, development means that there aren’t that many of them left but years ago St John’s Wood was a bohemian quarter full of artists.”
Clifton Studios kitchen - Credit: Archant
Sir William Reid Dick, president of the Royal Society of British Sculptors between 1933 and 1937, worked in the studio from 1908 until 1914.
He was appointed King George VI Sculptor in 1938 and became Queen’s Sculptor in 1952, when Queen Elizabeth acceded to the throne. He designed several war memorials including the Kitchener Memorial Chapel in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Unilever House, Sir William Reid Dick RA, "Controlled Energy" - Credit: Archant
Another sculptor, Dora Clarke, then used the studio during the 1920s and 30s, where she worked on the wood-carved African heads for which she was best known. She also created the Joseph Conrad memorial at Bishopsbourne from 1927.
While recently renovated by the vendors, who also used the studio as a creative home office while living in the house, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom property property still boasts an open plan double-height kitchen/reception room, and the large windows mean it would still be an ideal artist’s space.
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Mr Schneiderman said: “I think it would suit somebody a little unconventional who wants something interesting.
“If you want something unique and that’s got the wow factor, this is perfect.”
