Notting Hill and Bayswater have been the outperforming toast of the prime London property scene over the last year-or-so, with a series of super-home sales bucking an otherwise lethargic market, and some of the capital’s most-anticipated luxury property developments getting underway.

Four properties have sold in the area in just the last few months for more than £20m-a-piece, following a year of big deals in 2018 that saw low-profile super-prime specialist Graham Hedger tuck away over £100m from a few remarkable renovations in W11.

The local development scene is looking similarly lively: Fenton Whelan is cracking on with its ambitious Park Modern scheme, overlooking Kensington Palace Gardens; Finchatton is on the case at Meyer Bergman’s £1bn Whiteleys reinvention; a row of Candy-backed new-build villas – Duke’s Lodge – are reaching full height next to Holland Park, and Bourne Capital is revamping its entire Queensway Estate.

Now high-society boutique property developer Banda – started 12 years ago by a then-23-year-old Edo Mapelli Mozzi – has lifted the lid on its latest flagship project: a 15-unit luxury residential development on Leinster Square in Bayswater.

13-19 Leinster Square is creating 15 high-spec new homes across some 50,000 square feet: five maisonettes, eight sprawling lateral apartments and two penthouses with “sunken” roof terraces. It’s all set behind a classic Grade-II listed white stucco-fronted façade, facing one of London’s premier private garden squares.

The buildings originally went up in the 1850s as seven individual townhouses, but were amalgamated into a hotel in the 1980s. Westminster Council gave planning approval for a return to residential in 2014. Banda took the property on in 2016/2017, with ambitions to create something spectacular.

Leinster Square is seeing a fair bit of development activity at the moment: the final apartment in Alchemi’s 11-unit TateHindle-designed resi reinvention of Nos.7-12 (next-door to Banda) completed in April 2019. And another big residential development project was nodded through by planners earlier this year, when Westminster Council finally gave a green light for the transformation of the Holiday Villa Hotel (Nos.35-37) into 32 apartments, designed by Brimelow McSweeney Architects for Leeds Property Ltd.

With elegant period proportions, the 2,705 sq ft show apartment at 13-19 Leinster Square has been kitted out with some genuine class and style, featuring a curated selection of some of Banda founder Edo’s personal possessions and favourite items.

The apartment is draped with artworks by a mix of well- and lesser-known artists, including some by Mozzi’s photographer pal Nick Knight, a self portrait by Tony Bevans, a piece by Anish Kapoor, and two bronze sculptures by Mozzi’s step-father David Williams-Ellis. An over-sized work by Kristen Giorgi of American sister act NG Collective hangs over panelled walls in one of the bedrooms (pictured below) – managing to be both bold and subtle thanks to the scale of the room and understated colour palette.

Flooded with natural light from full-height windows, the bedroom and sitting room feature “cloud lights” by New York atelier Apparatus. These hand-frosted glass orbs emit a soft glow, adding to the relaxed and homely atmosphere.

Similar care has been taken with the eclectic selection of furniture in the show unit. Salvaged 15th Century urns from Copenhagen sit in the hallway, alongside antique Joaquim Tenreiro seating from Brazil. There are some seriously chunky marble slabs in the kitchen, while timber floors show real craft.

In the dining room, original 1950’s teak and cane dining chairs (designed by Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret for his cousin Corbusier’s utopian city, Chandigarh in India) are set around a chunky brass table, created by Banda’s own Design Studio and made by Shropshire furniture-maker Rupert Bevan.

There’s no sign of communal amenities in this 15-unit scheme; no gym, wine room, co-working space or pet spa. The focus is instead on delivering glorious private living spaces for residents.

Banda says it has received “very positive interest pre-launch” in the Leinster Square development. Sales are due to launch this month, with the scheme completing in early 2020. Initial pricing ranges from £5.9m to £9.9m.

Expect to hear lots more from Banda in the coming months… The team is planning to launch its own furniture collection very soon, and there are rumours afoot of a Royal wedding involving Edo…

In Pictures: 13-19 Leinster Square, by Banda

www.13-19leinstersquare.com / www.bandaproperty.co.uk

Further Reading

• Reinventing Queensway: Three schemes set to turn a Bayswater thoroughfare into one of London’s top addresses February 2019
• The £2m+ Districts: Marylebone & Notting Hill join PCL’s Golden Postcodes February 2019
• ‘For some, buying in Bayswater is almost a hedge against Brexit’ October 2018
• The Right Side of the Park: How Bayswater became PCL’s hottest ticket By Simon Barnes (March 2018)

Main image: All images via Banda Property