'Leaning tower of Rotherhithe' up for auction

A house perched on the Thames riverbank in east London, four storeys high and just 3.5m wide, is up for auction.

The property - which is, rather bafflingly, said to be known locally as the "leaning tower of Rotherhithe" - has long been the subject of intrigue.

The house, which was once part of a row of buildings, has a run-down exterior but still attracts an auction guide price of £1.5m.

The building, now 1 Fulford Street, was formerly 41 Rotherhithe Street.

Now the only house on the street, it was once surrounded by shipping businesses.

Between 1937 and 1939 it was reportedly home to the socialite and author Jessica Mitford and her husband Esmond Romilly, nephew of Winston Churchill.

To the west of the house, the buildings were destroyed during the Blitz in World War Two.

After the war, some of the properties to the east still stood, described as "wooden tenements vibrantly populated" with artists, writers and shipping workers.

In the 1960s, London County Council bought the remaining houses on the row but the owners of 41 Rotherhithe Street, barge constructors Braithwaite & Dean, refused to sell.

The company employed lightermen - workers who used flat-bottomed barges to move goods between ships and quays - and they would pull up to collect their wages from the office building at 41 Rotherhithe Street.

After nearly three decades, the current owners have decided they no longer need a house in London, auctioneers Savills said.

The sale is to take place on 1 March.

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