Cottage à Londres, Royaume-Uni

Asta House provides a new take on urban living, right in the heart of the characterful and well-connected Fitzrovia district with its great history of artists, writers and designers. With a W1 postcode, this is a place close to the bustle of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street, yet tucked away on the quiet corner of Whitfield Street and Chitty Street.

Asta House is an airy, wide-windowed brick and Cumbrian slate building – originally for light-industrial use, then offices and studios – dating from the 1950s. Now Derwent London is transforming this very adaptable building into an intelligently-planned and richly detailed residential enclave with a variety of apartments and two penthouses, all overseen by an on-site concierge.

Location

Fitzrovia maintains plenty of its historically Bohemian and creative flavour. Well-provided with good independent restaurants, pubs and cafes, private art galleries and shops, it has long been an independently-minded district that is as much residential, commercial and (with University College London nearby) academic.

Its grid of streets, laid out from Georgian times onwards, was a key location for the postwar avant-garde art set known as the English Constructionists, but the artistic presence here, including writers and musicians, goes back centuries further.

Long known as a centre for creative industries such as advertising, engineering and architecture, it has a youthful population. Well-served by Underground stations, bus routes and (from late 2018) by the new Elizabeth Line express metro at Tottenham Court Road.