Hooked: Agent uses property's prostitution past as marketing peg

A property that used to house one of London’s best known prostitutes - and which carries a blue plaque celebrating her time there - is now one of the capital’s most exclusive homes.

And the respected estate agent selling the property is using the hooker angle as the peg to win attention. 

Estate agent Peter Wetherell, well known as Mayfair’s senior agent, says: “Catherine Walters was the last great Victorian courtesan whose wealthy lovers included Royalty and aristocrats. The grand Blue Plaque townhouse at 15 South Street is where she lived for almost five decades, initially as a tenant, and from 1872 as the wealthy owner. If the walls of this Mayfair house could speak what tales of romance, high society scandal and wild parties it would tell.”

The property now has 4,032 square foot of living space including a garage and roof terrace; it has of course been modernised extensively and now forms what Wetherell calls “a lovely family home.”

A 19th century Lord paid Catherine enough to rent the grand Georgian townhouse, which was then bought by a Baron - another client of the prostitute. In the early 1870s Catherine returned 300 love letters to another lover - Bertie, Prince of Wales - who paid her enough to fund the purchase of the house in 1872.

She lived there until her death in 1920, 30 years after ceasing being a prostitute.

*All images provided by Wetherell