_**Feedback** is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more_ Feedback has, belatedly in life, stumbled upon a new life interest: wildly aspirational property choices. We previously highlighted the Farnborough Centrifuge, a piece of aviation and space-flight history now up for sale as a home for someone with £750,000 to burn. The Centrifuge was still available the last time we checked.
Now, chief subeditor Kelsey Hayes has identified an even more expensive domicile up for sale, which has been highlighted by the news site _London Centric_. Compared with this, she notes, the Farnborough Centrifuge “now seems like a bargain”. When Feedback opened the tab for the listing, it announced at the top: “Four bedroom detached house for sale”.
While this is technically true, it does not quite capture the scale of the property in question. What is up for sale is the King’s Observatory in Old Deer Park, London. It is a former astronomical observatory, since converted into a private home.
It was built on the orders of King George III (as in _The Madness of_) in the 1760s, so that he and his wife Queen Charlotte (as in _Bridgerton_) could observe the 1769 transit of Venus. At the time, this was a major scientific endeavour, because it offered a way to determine the distance from Earth to the sun. Evidently the royals wanted to share the excitement.
Careful examination of the listing reveals that the observatory is still operational: one of the photos shows an antique wood and brass telescope housed inside a cupola. Kelsey notes with bemusement that the estate agents do not seem to regard this as a major selling point: “it’s the last photo in the slideshow”. In the decades after the transit, the observatory was used for an array of scientific tasks, including measuring atmospheric electricity and verifying the accuracy of instruments such as clocks.
In the 1980s, it became offices, and in the 21st century, a private home. The listing describes it as having not a garden, but “grounds”, and a drive that can accommodate the adjective “sweeping”. Grecian carp are mentioned.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
