Be chairman of the board in this City penthouse
SPENDING one’s working day in the boardroom is one thing, but living in one? That’s the option awaiting anyone who snaps up this smart-as-they-come penthouse on the edge of the City. The triplex three bedroom apartment called The Provenance (you’ll just have to get used to the name) sits at the top of a Victorian building that was originally the headquarters of the Co-operative Retail Society (what we know as the Co-op). The huge open-plan living space occupies the old boardroom – it’s a stupendous space with views out to Canary Wharf and a large skylight window sitting in the centre of a great, arching ceiling.
The Grade II-listed building, Sugar House, doubled as a sugar warehouse, and is an example of Victorian commercial architecture at its most ambitious and confident – with its ornate redbrick exterior, gothic arches and clock tower, it reminds one of St Pancras station. And the interior is no less extravagant, if rather more up-to-the-minute. There are 42 highly-designed apartments within, including several penthouses – and The Provenance is the pick of the bunch. That boardroom living space, designed in minimalist white, includes dining room, designer kitchen and even a grand piano. The whole place is pre-wired for multi-room audio, including an iPod docking station and hub, and there’s hi-tech Lutron lighting to set the mood. Anyone living here might just have too much fun to want to leave for work, but its location just east of Tower Hill at least means a canny City buyer will only have to walk to the office.
The Provenance, Sugar House, 99 Leman Street, E1 8EY. £2.25m. Other penthouses available from £999,950, with further properties from £424,950. For more information call 020 3217 1000 or visit www.cityquarter.co.uk.