Owner of infamous Kensington striped house prepares for demolition

Property developer Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring hit the headlines last year when she painted her Kensington mews home in garish red and white stripes.

Ms Lisle-Mainwaring was later ordered to get rid of the stripes by the council, something she is yet to do.

The latest stage in the controversy comes as the developer has boarded up the property in preparation to demolish it entirely.

According to the Standard she told the council in February that she would only get rid of the bizarre stripes on her London home if they stopped a nearby office building development.

She said: "If the council does not build the monstrosity it has started building in Kensington Square I will paint the house white or any colour they want."

The Mail Online reports that she originally painted the property in protest after being denied permission to build a significant basement in the building.

As we reported last year, although Ms Lisle-Mainwaring's home is in a conservation are, you don't actually need planning permission to decorate the outside walls.

A council spokesman at the time said: "The property is situated within the Kensington Square Conservation area and its condition and appearance has attracted numerous complaints to the council's planning enforcement team.

Adding that although she has the chance to appeal if she didn't then she would have to 'repaint the front elevation white and carry out repairs to the windows'.

Demolition

So far asbestos has been removed and the interior of the house has been gutted, but given that Ms Lisle-Mainwaring lives in Geneva, Switzerland, this has little impact on her on a day-to-day basis whereas her neighbours are the ones suffering.

One told the Standard: "Living in Geneva she has no idea of the amount of disruption she is causing."

Adding: "The serious work hasn't even started yet - so it is likely to get worse."

It's understood that the property developer has spent around £1 million so far on battling the complaints against her home.

Daniel Moylan, a Conservative councillor, told the Standard: "People are very anxious about what is going on in that house. It's become something of a local icon.

"But it is a free country, just about, and we can't stop her from doing the works so we will have to wait for the next steps."