If you’ve ever dreamt of owning a slice of Putney’s artistic history, now’s your chance – but you’ll need deep pockets.
One of the area’s most iconic riverside homes, once owned by the renowned Australian artist Sidney Nolan and later by Royal Ballet dancer and author Meredith Daneman, is up for sale for the first time in 50 years. On the market for £9.95 million, the double-width house on Deodar Road backs directly onto the Thames and comes with a legacy as rich as its asking price.
Built in the 1890s, Nolan painted some of his most famous works on the top floor and welcomed regular visitors including composer Benjamin Britten, Royal Ballet choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, and Nobel-winning author Patrick White. A blue plaque was added in 2022 to mark his legacy — and a camellia planted for Cynthia Nolan by Britten still flowers in the garden today.
Before Nolan, the home had already played a prominent creative role. In the 1920s, it was a stained-glass studio for Joan Howson and Caroline Townshend, both leading lights of the Arts and Crafts movement. Townshend, a Suffragette, was a relative of George Bernard Shaw, who was known to row across the Thames and moor at the foot of the garden — the davits remain.
The house was bought in 1975 by Meredith Daneman, a former Royal Ballet dancer and author of the definitive biography of Margot Fonteyn. She and her husband, actor Paul Daneman (The Power Game, Quatermass and the Pit), raised their family there and later reconfigured the property into three apartments, one of which remains her home.
Set directly on the Thames with 180-degree river views, the home has hosted everything from wedding receptions to major TV and film productions — including Silent Witness, Strike, Diary of a Call Girl, and the 2023 ITV film The Lady.
“It has a creative spirit,” Daneman told The Evening Standard. “The worst thing about leaving is that I barely know who I am without the house.”
Also for sale nearby: Jim Henson’s Muppet Workshop
If your budget doesn’t quite stretch to £10 million, another Putney landmark is also on the market. Jim Henson’s original London studio, where The Muppets and Labyrinth came to life, is available for just over £1 million.
Different homes. Different histories. But both reminders that Putney has long been one of London’s quiet creative powerhouses — where artistry and riverside life have always gone hand in hand.
