IF EVER a house had the look of a love nest for a royal mistress, it is 37 Ovington Square in London SW3. Hardly surprising, as it was home to Lillie Langtry, and then to the brilliant harpsichordist and clavichordist Violet Gordon Woodhouse, who was hardly less celebrated for her love affairs, from 1913 to 1917.

Ovington Square, with its grand snow-white five-storey stucco terraced houses, has the scale of Kensington. No 37 is more domestic, set on the entrance to the square from Walton Street, where the scale is still that of Chelsea. Even outside there is a fanfare because the usual tall first-floor windows with black iron balconies have been replaced by a delightful bow window with rounded corners and a central arch.

The front door is special, too: ironclad and handsomely studded with a lookout grille resembling the portcullis motif seen on House of Commons notepaper. It opens into an elegant front hall divided by fluted Ionic columns; a mirror wall on the left doubles the apparent size of the space and deftly conceals the wedge-shaped plan of the house. A pretty Spanish Baroque arch frames the staircase. On the left is a fine George II fireplace and double oak doors leading into the drawing room. Here you hardly notice the room’s unusual L-shape because the eye is drawn to the luxuriant patio garden at the end that bristles with palm trees.

The drawing room is no more than the amuse-bouche to one of the most enchanting party rooms in London, known as the Grand Salon. You enter down a flight of steps into an explosion of rococo curves worthy of the most charming Louis XV interiors found in smaller châteaux of the mid-18th century. There seems little doubt that these are the original French boiseries – ornate wooden panelling – fitted a little awkwardly in the corners. Carved in pine, they would have been painted.

Between the arches and niches in the panels are paintings of Diana, Venus and carousing lovers. The room is divided into two by a broad arch with a step up at the far end. There are matching fireplaces at either end with enormous mirrors in two more shapely arches, ensuring that the room will look ravishing in candlelight – although a new owner might feel the red ceiling deserves attention. After all this you might expect the rest of the house to be an anticlimax. In fact, right up to the eaves, the house contains a wealth of delightful French panelling in Louis XV and Louis XVI style.

First, however, the basement. A pair of grand double doors open into the kitchen, although you would not know it as the outer sides are glazed in a pretty serpentine pattern, matching the doors that lead in from the drawing room. The kitchen is laid out in galley fashion. Beyond is a staff flat with its own entrance.

Upstairs the first-floor front room is a handsomely panelled study with a library behind. The big treat is the front second-floor bedroom with exquisite panelling on four sides, with rounded corners in the smartest French fashion. The corner panels prove to be cupboard doors, hiding a wealth of shelf and hanging space.

The big flourish is provided by the Prince of Wales feathers on either side of the bed, proclaiming that it was not just Lillie Langtry who slept here. This appears to be the case as it is not clear when Lillie lived here (she had a series of London abodes) – whether during her first liaison with the Prince in the late 1870s or when she became an actress.

This delightful house is yet more proof of the large number of exotic interiors introduced in Kensington and Mayfair houses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It deserves another glamorous owner – heaven forbid that it should become a company pied-à-terre complete with boardroom table.

FACTFILE

WHAT IS IT: Grade II listed terraced house. 4,710 sq ft.

WHERE IS IT: In the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, close to Harrods.

WHERE TO EAT: San Lorenzo, Frankie’s, Zuma, Mr Chow.

PRICE: £7.25 million, Knight Frank, 020-7591 8600, knightfrank.co.uk

HOW TO FIND OUT THE HISTORY OF YOUR LISTED HOUSE

Check with bodies such as English Heritage, the Georgian Group, Victorian Society, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Save Britain’s Heritage has a list of buildings at risk.

Many local authorities keep records of their listed buildings online or in the public library.

The local history section of your local library may have old cuttings.

Look up the history of the parish church on its website, and also visit the church to search for plaques and monuments.

Try Pevsner’s Buildings of England. Last but not least, try using an internet search engine. MARCUS BINNEY

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