London is a little brighter these days as the owner of the infamous candy-striped house in Kensington has won her High Court case to keep the facade's eye-catching red and white colours. Property developer Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring was successful in her bid to overturn the planning authority's order to repaint the three-storey terraced building.
Zipporah painted the red and white stripes on the multimillion-pound townhouse in March 2015. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea subsequently served her with a section 215 notice requiring the external paintwork to be repainted white within 28 days. It stated in the notice that the colourful facade was "incongruous with the streetscape of South End and the local area." Zipporah appealed to the High Court after previous appeals to magistrates and Isleworth Crown Court were unsuccessful.
During the High Court appeal, Mr Justice Gilbart ruled that the painting of the house had been "entirely lawful." He also questioned whether it was proper to use a section 215 notice in a case where the complaint was one of aesthetics rather than a lack of maintenance or repair.
The owner of the house now gets to keep her colourful house, which has become a local attraction. She has vehemently denied the suggestion that the red and white stripes were put in place to annoy the neighbours who objected to her plans to demolish the property and replace it with a new home.
