The power of famous buildings to attract people in a leisure or commercial context also extends into the private choice of where to live. Celebrity has an effect on the price of property and is another extraordinary manifestation of the influence of the famous on the public. People have long been fascinated by the places where celebrities have lived and visiting the homes of the rich and famous has become something of a cottage industry in places like Beverly Hills. TV programmes looking into celebrities' homes in the USA and UK are testimony to our interest in famous people's lives.
In the UK glazed Doultonware 'Blue Plaques' are fixed onto a building to commemorate the fact that a famous person once lived there. Nominations for these English Heritage Blue Plaques are suggested by members of the public and, like so many other aspects of celebrity, the process is essentially democratic and created by popular demand. There are now about 800 in London alone, with about 20 new ones being added each year. The plaques don't just honour the great figures of the past, such as Karl Marx, Vincent Van Gogh and Sylvia Pankhurst, they also recognize more contemporary figures. On 8 December 2000, John Lennon became the first British rock musician to be honoured with a Blue Plaque in recognition of his contribution to popular music and his undisputed status as an icon of the 20th century.
The impact that the arrival of famous people in the locality has on property prices and the premium placed on houses or apartments for sale or rent if they have had a celebrity owner occupier is further evidence of this love affair. It seems that the mere proximity to a celebrity excites in people an enhanced sense of value and leads them to be prepared to pay a significant amount extra for any given home. Notting Hill Gate in London, once a quasi-slum, a prostitutes' dormitory for central London, and scene of the infamous Notting Hill riots of 1958, has become highly desirable over the past ten years. Market factors such as relative affordability compared to neighbouring Holland Park and the perennial appeal of the market in Portobello Road have contributed to the area's gentrification, but it's mainly because celebrities have chosen to make their homes there.
This has both been stimulated and capitalized on by the eponymous film Notting Hill starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant and produced by local residents Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films. Indeed, the blue front door of the house in the film attracted so many tourists that the owner was forced to sell it and replace it with one of a different colour! Caroline Freud, who bought the house which was once owned by the film's producer and screenwriter Richard Curtis, put the blue door up for auction after she realized she was living in a tourist attraction which drew in crowds of people posing for pictures outside her house.
In 1999 it was sold at Christie's in South Kensington for British Pounds 5750 to a Portobello Road antiques dealer. Not everyone was pleased by this sale and John Scott of the Notting Hill Improvement Group was reported by the Kensington & Chelsea News as saying: 'Although we live in a free world, the door will be sorely missed. When the Farmer's Market is on I stand in the street giving out leaflets and for the last few months, I've been inundated with tourists asking where they can find the door. I think the owner of the house should get another door, identical to the original to keep the tourists happy and to retain the character of the area.'
A survey of 1000 estate agents conducted by the internet property company Fish4homes.co.uk revealed that a large majority of those responding believed that a celebrity owner could add as much as 25% to the value of property, all other things being equal. Indeed, an A-list celebrity such as Bill Clinton, Madonna or Mick Jagger moving into the locality could increase the value of the property they purchase by as much as 35%. For example, the house recently bought by Madonna and Guy Ritchie in Marylebone, London W1, for an estimated British Pounds 5 million has reportedly already increased in value by a cool British Pounds 1 million, simply because of the megastar rating of its new owners.
While the particular property targeted by celebrity will appreciate in value instantaneously by these enormous percentages, it also seems to be the case that the neighbours will also benefit from the pulling power of a star moving into their area. According to the survey, neighbouring houses will also go up by up to 11%, with the rest of the street adding value by up to 8%.
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1. Dede Allen was a famous movie editor with a big talent
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