New six-storey home on Henrietta Street in London

High-tech haven
Posted by Shelley Emling in Over The TopLeave a Comment

High-tech kitchen
My house has only two phone lines. We own only two TVs, two fans and — horror of horrors — lights we have to flick on with our own two hands.

Perhaps that’s why I’m so dazzled by a new six-storey home on Henrietta Street in London — the largest residential building in Covent Garden — that’s come on the market with Henry & James for £4.75 million — or about $9 million.

This house has everything.

There’s an air purification system, preventing ANY dust settling anywhere in the house. Air comes into the house, is filtered twice and taken out naturally; it is fully automated and in the summer the air is cooled and in the winter it is warmed.

If that weren’t enough, there’s recessed down-lighters which turn on automatically when they sense the human heart beat.


High-tech exteriorSound proofing and wiring throughout the house enables the owner to record anything from any room in the house and to broadcast live — with the quality as good as that on the BBC or CNN.

All six floors have 50mm noise insulation; every window has been constructed with 6.4mm unbreakable glass on the outside and 4mm on the interior — identical in design to the original sash windows.

There’s a dance studio with wall-to-wall mirrors.

The house also has been prewired for 100 phone lines.

Why would anyone need 100 phone lines?

“They’ve all been installed as part of the internal wiring and the owner can choose whether to use the multiple lines or not,” said a spokeswoman for the property. “As a number of rooms are designed as a recording studio, voiceover booth, and media room, this multitude of phone lines ensures there are lines anywhere they are needed.”

The property was previously owned by Victor Gollancz, George Orwell’s first publisher, and is now owned by Wiktor Kubiak, a famous Polish music producer who is currently working with Roger Waters, previously of Pink Floyd.