A two-bedroom Chelsea apartment where Tilda Swinton lived while breaking into the film industry has been listed for £650,000 (A$1.16 million).
The 603-square-foot flat sits on the second floor of a portered red-brick mansion block on London’s King’s Road – modest digs, even by the standards of an actress who hadn’t yet won her Oscar.
Tilda lived in the apartment, known as “Flat 19,” from 1983 to 1998, a period that covered her entire emergence as a screen presence, according to Country & Town House. She would go on to win an Academy Award for Michael Clayton and play Jadis the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
What makes the listing unusual is its timing. The apartment is currently the subject of a full-scale multimedia reconstruction at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, where an exhibition dedicated to Tilda is running until 15 March.
For the exhibition, Tilda worked with childhood friend and filmmaker Joanna Hogg to create “Flat 19” – a replica of the apartment that explores memory, space, and personal history. The reconstruction features an unfurnished replica with wall-to-wall carpets, brick-building views, and voices and sounds flowing from doors left ajar.
“Eye has given me the opportunity to reflect on the mechanics of my working practice over the past forty years,” Tilda said of the exhibition. “And to come to rest on the – ever-present – bedrock and battery of the close fellowships I found from the very first and continue to rely upon to this day.”
The exhibition also features contributions from filmmakers Luca Guadagnino, Pedro Almodóvar, Jim Jarmusch, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, as well as photographer Tim Walker and fashion historian Olivier Saillard.
Back in the real world, the actual flat features high ceilings, sash windows, and a light reception and dining room as its central living space.
“It is no surprise that someone as iconic as Tilda Swinton chose to live here in her youth,” said Claire Mengham, sales associate at Knight Frank’s Kensington & Chelsea office.
Claire described the property as sitting between the River Thames and King’s Road, with views stretching down the famous street.
Tilda is set to return to the West End this autumn for the Royal Court Theatre’s 70th anniversary season, reviving her 1988 role in Manfred Karge’s Man to Man – her first major UK stage appearance in over 30 years.
A flat where a future Oscar winner once lived is now living twice — once in Chelsea, and once, more famously, in Amsterdam. The full listing can be viewed at knightfrank.com.