Monday, June 4, 2012

Amy Winehouse's Father Lists Her London Bedsit

SELLER: estate of Amy Winehouse
LOCATION: London, U.K.
PRICE: £2,699,950
SIZE: (approximately) 2,500 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 full and 2 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Listen children there has been a death in Your Mama's family—RIP Meemaw—so we've been a bit sluggish in getting to some of the hottest stories the last week or so and expect we'll be bringing up the celebrity real estate rear for another week.

In an effort to fill in a few of the many gaps we left gaping last week, over the next couple days we're going to briefly give our meaningless two cents about a few stories that some of y'all may (or may not) have already heard and/or read. Iffin that's the case, and you're just so over this big of celebrity property business, then move along little doggy. Your Mama will have some fresh meat for you to gnash at and gnaw on soon enough. Capisce? Capisce.

Everybody knows throwback (and throw-it-down) rocker Amy Winehouse died tragically and young—she was just 27—in July 2011 when she, quite literally, drank herself to death inside her walled and gated, Georgian-style home on London's Camden Square.

After months of mulling, Miss Winehouse's estate–managed by her father Mitch—has opted to sell his deceased daughter's architecturally dignified semi-detached and recently listed the structurally and cosmetically renovated and upgraded residence with an asking price of £2,699,950. A quick consult with Your Mama's currency conversion contraption reveals that amounts to 4,146,450 U.S. dollars at today's rates.

Miss Winehouse's modestly-scaled if hardly-inexpensive house measures about 2,500 square feet over 4 floors with a total of 3 bedrooms and 2 full and 2 half bathrooms. A stoop set in the walled and gated front garden opens to a long entry/stair hall with dark mocha-colored hardwood floors, crisp white walls, period moldings and, at the back under the stairs, a could-still-use-a-redo powder pooper.

The dark wood floors continue into the sitting room at the rear of the main floor outfitted with more period moldings, a decorative fireplace flanked by open shelving and a broad bay window with back garden view. The eat-in kitchen at the front of the house has vinyl black and white checkerboard flooring, glossy black lacquer cabinetry, jet black granite counter tops and a pair of side-by-side vintage-style white fridge/freezers.

One floor below, in the all-but-above-ground, wood-floored basement, there's a sound-proofed family room slathered an unholy shade of lipstick red paint, a modernized half crapper and a still-fully-equipped home gym with French doors that connect to the back garden. It's hard to believe all this equipment was used by Miss Winehouse who never looked particularly healthy or fit. Thin maybe, but robust, no. Whatever.

On the second floor—that's the first for for Brits—two guest/family bedrooms with custom wardrobes share a hall bathroom. One more flight up the full-floor master suite has a vaulted ceiling; over-sized wardrobe-lined dressing room; separate bedroom; and adjoining, en suite facility with black and white marble tile work, separate, glass-enclosed shower and freestanding and claw-footed soaking tub set unnecessarily at a catty wompus angle

A walled and gated courtyard at the front of the property probably didn't see much use by Miss Winehouse who was regularly besieged by fans and paparazzi outside her front gate. The area opposite her former home is still treated as a bit of a shrine with an apron of flowers, candles, and notes written to and/or about the multiple Grammy winner. The rear garden—unfortunately only accessible via a potentially treacherous trek through the gym—perhaps saw more use by the usually very pale-skinned Miss Winehouse with its sunken stone terrace, small patch of grass and tree- and shrubbery-ringed perimeter.

There has been a bit of brouhaha, we've bee told by a Brit or two, instigated by some of Miss Winehouse's still-faithful fans who feel Daddy Winehouse is profiteering by the sale of his deceased daughter's house. We're not sure what these people think Mister Winehouse ought to do with the multi-million dollar mini-manse where his daughter lived and died in such a dreadful and deadly (if wildly creative) manner. Move in to it?

We know there was talk of running some sort of Amy Winehouse foundation out of the house but, be honest, would you want to go to work in the same house where your 20-something year old, global superstar daughter met her early and ugly end? What we say isn't worth the time it takes to type it but as far as we're concerned Mummy and Daddy Winehouse ought to do what they need to do to settle their hearts no doubt left jagged by the loss of their daughter and if it's selling her damn house, then sell the damn house.

listing photos and floor plan: HouseNetwork.co.uk via RightMove.co.uk