J. W. Lennon, Esq., M.B.E., Kenwood, Wood Lane, Cavendish Road, St George's Hill, Weybridge, Surrey.
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Tittenhurst: then & now.
In brief, Ringo sold it to Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan in 1988, who proceeded to spend a, frankly, atrocious amount of wherewithal on gutting the interior, adding a whole new wing, constructing a bomb-proof swimming pool (I shit ye not), and generally doing all the things that one is not really supposed to do to a Grade II listed building. (The High Court had to step in to stop him going further, apparently.)
Anyway, above - the house in 1969, a few months before John bought it, and the same view now: the area under the terrace has been turned into a room. Speaking of which, here's how the Imagine errr..."turf" (as featured in the video) looks these days:
...and how it looked in the titular film:
The balcony, where the final pictures of the four of them together were taken, is long gone; that portion of the house has been turned into a new wing, because 50 rooms (or whatever it was) isn't really enough, is it? Clearly not:
An internal (fairly obviously, though nothing would surprise me) staircase (the camel photo possibly not there in the Lennon/Starr era)(nor anything else):
Finally, that bomb-proof swimming pool, together with the one that used to be there. An outdoor pool is generally regarded as a sign of wealth in the UK, but the old one looks positively spartan compared to the cash-fest that's there now. One reaches it, naturally, via an underground tunnel:
The Sheik died a few years back, and Tittenhurst now stands empty for much of the year, though there is a small army guarding the perimeter to ensure scum like me don't get a shufti.
Many thanks to JammyEye for the pics.
Ever seen how Ringo had the interior? Me neither. Horrific what Shakeabooty did with the joint. Jesus!
ReplyDeleteOh dear god, someone please buy this and restore it to historical condition, not this tasteless hip-hop-video set
ReplyDeleteYoko Kauf es und gestalte ein Museum daraus.
ReplyDeleteWould be nice to restore to the dump John lived-in some great memories of bygone days peace
ReplyDeletewhat a travesty, nice one idiot.
ReplyDeleteJohn lennon miss him miss him MISS HIM (Beatles song bakwards)
ReplyDeleteYou would think Yoko with all that money �� would make it a historical museum for John’s fans
ReplyDeleteYoko doesn't own the property. How would that be possible?
Deletehonestly think it looked better then and they should not have tampered with history
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes down to it - Lennon was only there maybe 3 years and Ringo had the property for almost 20 but he was spending more time in LA and eventually Monte Carlo. I don't know if he offered it to Yoko, but she had no use for it.
ReplyDelete