In the Shadow of Hawksmoor by John Nicolson

Photographs by Lucinda Douglas-Menzies & styled by Marianna Kennedy

A Restored Georgian House in Whitechapel Available to Rent. March 2026

As a young tv reporter I stumbled upon a cluster of abandoned houses sitting in the shadow of Hawksmoor’s brooding Christ Church Spitalfields. The Church was then a looming black presence standing guard over an abandoned vegetable market and the neglected early Georgian houses which clustered around it. It was hard to believe they’d once been the swanky homes of prosperous Huguenot - French Protestant - silk weavers. The Nineteenth Century had been tough on these fine homes with many split into rooming houses as the silk trade died. The Twentieth Century had been worse. Those that weren’t bombed by the Luftwaffe were bulldozed by developers and only a handful remained. 

I moved into the freezing cold garret of one. I cooked over an open fire and shivered at night under blankets. Candles illuminated my cramped quarters as they would have done when the house was last occupied as a home a century or more before. A boiler pumped hot water for a tin bath and vigorous scrubs in the icy air as I rushed out to my job at the BBC. 

Friends thought it romantic. 

Over the next decade I colonised the house room by room, revealing grand paneled interiors, fine wooden cornicing, and six paneled doors hidden beneath flush panelling, lowered ceilings and false floors.

Without the budget to furnish with period pieces I cobbled together furniture found on the street, in skips or junk shops. No one seemed to want Eames, Ercol or other unfashionable mid-century designers. But as tastes changed I found the house in demand for photo shoots with languid models sitting moodily on the creaking staircases. 

I love my home and never wanted to move. But I found myself hankering after another project. A short walk to the east and another cluster of streets lay abandoned in Whitechapel. One house caught my eye. Walden Street sat forlorn, metal security cages fixed across its four floor facade as a bleak and forbidding face to the world. Inside its Georgian panelling was covered with plastic wood and curling 1970s wallpaper. A grim extension covered its garden. 

My hands trembled as I bid for it at auction. 

Over a long cold winter I stripped it back to its Georgian bones. The basement was excavated and antique clay tiles were laid. Every fireplace was opened and Georgian hob grates fitted. The panelling was unveiled, restored, and painted in subtle Farrow and Ball colours. The ancient floorboards were carefully scrubbed and waxed to ensure they retained their centuries’ old patina.

I fitted Marianna Kennedy blinds to the windows and a luxurious C.P. Hart bathroom. Antique light fittings were sourced from Spitalfields Market. Craftsmen completed the kitchen with hand made zinc work tops. 

Down went the extension and a glorious English country walled garden was planted by Luis Buitrago. Up went an outside wc with a thunderbox flush and garden room attached. 

Twenty years on and the house and garden look as if they’ve always been loved. And that’s as I always wanted.

£4500 pcm for the house. It's four floors.  Kitchen and dining room on the lower ground floor, two receptions on the ground floor, bedroom and bathroom on the first floor, and bedroom on the second floor. Walled garden. The garden house is a potting room or study and there's a wc there too. It's available now. 

Contact: JohnnyNicolson@aol.com