‘A huge indulgence’: Graham Norton’s extraordinary property portfolio

Within the final couple of weeks, comic, chat present host and Eurovision star Graham Norton has put two of his houses in the marketplace: one in London and one in New York. “We’ve been excited about it for a few years and I lastly really feel courageous sufficient to make an enormous change to my life,” he advised The Sunday Occasions.

Norton, although, has a delicate spot for stunning homes, and has acquired a portfolio of houses world wide. “I discover that I reply to [houses] in a really emotional approach,” he wrote in his memoir, So Me. “As a result of they’re actual property and subsequently ‘an funding’ I by some means get away with shopping for them, however in actuality to me they’re an enormous indulgence, approach past garments or lodges, and but like a mixture of each.”

From his listed Wapping townhouse to his West Cork bolthole, right here’s the place Graham Norton lives.

On the finish of April, Norton listed his 3,701 sq. foot home on Wapping Excessive Avenue for £4.95 million with Knight Frank.

Set down its personal personal lane, the property is a four-storey, Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse with an adjoining constructing —a former warehouse— to the rear. The home’s kitchen and 5 bedrooms are contained throughout the townhouse, whereas the warehouse, unfold over two flooring, has been transformed into an enormous lounge and reception space with a dramatic vaulted ceiling and views of the river.

Complementing the constructing’s giant home windows, excessive ceilings and interval options, Norton’s interiors are elegant: wood floorboards all through, white partitions and a mix of classic and extra up to date furnishings.

Famously a canine lover, there’s a drawing of a dachshund hung over the fireside in one of many bedrooms, two work of wagging canine tails in one other, and a big canine portrait within the hallway. “I’m loopy about canine,” he stated in a 2014 interview. “It doesn’t matter how typically I remind myself they’re simply canine, the emotional bond with my fur infants is profound and, as nuts because it appears, absolutely reciprocated.”

Norton has out of doors area too: there’s an inside courtyard, with out of doors seating and a personal backyard, whereas the home additionally shares the possession of a giant, communal riverside backyard and seaside, which is revealed twice a day at low tide.

Now, after greater than 20 years within the property, he has chosen to promote. “My favorite occasions have undoubtedly been having fun with a drink sitting by the river on a summer time’s night,” he advised The Sunday Occasions. “My least favorite reminiscence in the home was that point one of many canine bought caught in a neighbour’s shrub.”

Graham Norton’s Manhattan dwelling lies metres from the Empire State Constructing, on a personal gated mews. His and the 9 different homes on the mews had been constructed as horse stables by John Sniffen between 1863 and 1864, and transformed into houses within the early twentieth century.

Norton purchased his two-bedroom home in 2002 from mannequin Claudia Schiffer, though it had additionally as soon as been owned by the illusionist David Copperfield. The road has been well-liked with different celebrities, together with Cole Porter and Lenny Kravitz.

“There was just one [property] that had stolen my coronary heart – and it could steal an enormous chunk of my pockets,” wrote Norton in his memoir, The Life and Loves of a He Satan. “I adored its setting in a bit mews, its old school entrance door, the leafy roof terrace with its view of the Chrysler Constructing.”

Norton briefly lived on the property full time whereas he was presenting NY Graham Norton, however it shortly turned his pied-a-terre in New York and he started to lease it out. “My relationship with New York is like that of 1 with a mistress: thrilling, horny and harmful, however I’m all the time conscious that I’m taking part in away,” he wrote. “London is my life and Manhattan is my bit on the facet.”

Nonetheless, Norton stored maintain of the property and not too long ago undertook a full renovation by New York designers Gachot Studios. In keeping with the New York Occasions, Norton’s plans modified after he married his husband, the Scottish filmmaker Jonathan McLeod, in 2022. Firstly of Could, days after itemizing his Wapping dwelling, Norton put the home in the marketplace for $5.595 million (£4.24m) with Corcoran.

Standout options embrace the home’s “Nice Room” with 15-foot-high ceilings, a double-width window and a lilac stone function fire. Above, a clerestory window runs the total width of the home, bringing in numerous pure mild. There’s additionally a library, a sunny roof terrace and a marble ensuite toilet for the first bed room.

Except for Norton’s Nice Room, with its herringbone wood flooring, serene white partitions and curved staircase, Norton seems to have opted for extra maximalist interiors for his Manhattan dwelling. The kitchen has inexperienced cabinetry; the first bed room has wealthy blue partitions and a teal dressing room. The eating room, painted shiny orange, has an Andy Warhol portray of Jane Fonda on the wall, with a vibrant summary portray by the New York-born artist Heather Chontos.

“It’s a terrific home for entertaining with the roof terrace for summer time and the working fire within the winter,” Norton advised the New York Occasions. “There have been numerous events, huge and small, through the years.”

Norton grew up in Bandon, a city in Cork, and in 2003, he purchased a home an hour’s drive away, within the seaside village of Ahakista.

Norton’s sister discovered the home, and when the comic first seen it, he was assured that it was nothing just like the pictures. “The property agent wasn’t unsuitable. The pictures of rooms crammed with plump chintz sofas and gilt-framed oil work had been in actuality grim naked cells with pigeon droppings on the flooring and unusual fungal growths caught to the partitions,” he wrote in his autobiography. “The one factor that remained intact was the view…It was paradise.”

Nonetheless, after a sophisticated sale, he purchased the interval property for a reported €1.6 million and employed native follow Edge Structure to assist with the renovations. The home spans some 4,000 sq. ft, with views over Dunmanus Bay.

“It’s a paradise. I adore it,” he advised The Irish Occasions. “There is no such thing as a denying it’s a beautiful a part of the world. It’s far much less exploited than Cornwall or Devon, that are equally stunning, however it’s so rather more distant and unexplored.”

After promoting his home in East Sussex in 2018, Norton is rumoured to have bought a luxurious condominium on the then-newly accomplished ONE Blackfriars constructing.

The 170-metre-high tower has panoramic views over London and provides residents facilities like a 24-hour concierge, swimming pool, steam room, fitness center, “snow cabin”, fitness center, golf simulator, wine cellar and personal screening room.

Norton purchased his architect-designed, modernist seaside home in Bexhill-on-Sea for £1.35 million in 2009. Clad in African iroko teak, the property had balconies on each degree overlooking the ocean, in addition to its personal personal seaside, an out of doors swimming pool and landscaped gardens.

In keeping with Land Registry information, Norton offered it in 2018 for £1.85 million – £450,000 lower than he had initially listed it for.

After flying to Cape City to go to his pal Tim Lord within the early noughties, Norton was charmed by town and determined to purchase a vacation dwelling there. “Cape City is as near paradise as I’ve discovered on earth,” he wrote in So Me. “The individuals couldn’t be nicer, the climate extra stunning, the setting across the slopes of Desk Mountain extra spectacular…from the second I bought off the airplane I used to be in love with it.”

4 days into his keep, he visited the home he would ultimately purchase, on the foot of Desk Mountain. “I walked into the home and instantly felt prefer it was mine,” he wrote. I pretended to do wise issues like ask in regards to the sizzling water and the way previous it was, however all I actually needed to do was yell ‘Offered!’ and begin shopping for furnishings.”

He reportedly listed the property for £510,000 in 2009 and offered it inside 4 days.

Norton’s properties hitting the market inside fast succession have prompted hypothesis about what is likely to be subsequent for the comic. The place will he select to reside subsequent?

There are rumours that Norton could also be shifting his focus west. Although he has sung the praises of east London, business insiders counsel that he could also be home searching round Regent’s Park. The realm, in fact, is dwelling to a few of London’s most costly properties, together with the grand John Nash-designed regency terraces which have attracted celebrities like Tom Ford, Stefano Gabbana, Sasha Baron Cohen, Damien Hirst and property developer Christian Sweet.

W1B, which runs from Piccadilly Circus up in the direction of Regent’s Park, is the most costly postcode in England and Wales, with a median property value of £4.375 million. The realm encompasses streets like Park Crescent and the unique Regent’s Cresent improvement, with 67 Grade I-listed flats and 9 backyard villas. Final 12 months, The Holme, set inside Regent’s Park, turned the second-most costly property transaction recorded within the UK, after it offered for £138.9 million.

Norton did say he was on the lookout for a change, and the grandeur of Regent’s Park would definitely mark a departure from Wapping Excessive Avenue. Might this be his subsequent dwelling?