Kenwood, St. George's Hill
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Kenwood was the home of John Lennon from the summer of 1964 until the late spring of 1968, located on St. George's Hill estate in Weybridge, England. It is the adjacent property to Sunny Heights, home of Ringo Starr through the same years, and is a short drive from Kinfauns, George Harrison's former home in Esher.
Built in a mock-Tudor style, and situated on forty acres of land, Lennon bought the house on July 15, 1964, on the advice of Beatles accountant Dr. Walter Strach. Though reportedly not liking the house (describing it as a "stopover" on the way to something better), he did spend twice the original £20,000 purchase price on renovations, reducing its 22 rooms to 17 and adding state-of-the-art kitchen appliances, so complex a tutor had to come give Lennon and then-wife Cynthia lessons in their use. Lennon further wanted a mirrored bottom for the pool behind the house; being advised that this would be not only impractical and expensive, but potentially dangerous to swimmers, he settled for a large eye mosaic set into the sides. The addition of a cook/housekeeper (called Dot) and a groundskeeper completed the picture, and the family settled in, spending most of their time in and around the kitchen.
Leaving most of the rooms in the house to Cynthia, who anticipated lavish entertaining in their new, enlarged space, Lennon claimed the attic as his own, painting the ceiling one bright colour, then changing to another when the paint ran out, and installing most of his musical equipment there. He owned several tape recorders, but had done little with them until fellow Beatle Paul McCartney came over and helped set them up in series, so overdubs could be made, and Lennon could make his own doubletracked song demos at home.
When not working in the attic, Lennon could usually be found in a small garden room at the back of the house overlooking the swimming pool, which he decorated with various pictures, caricatures and stickers, such as those for the Safe as Milk campaign of the mid-sixties, and one advertising the Monterey Pop Festival. He would generally spend his time curled up on a small wicker sofa watching television and devouring daily newspapers. Lennon's drug intake, particularly amphetamine, marijuana and LSD, was fairly high for much of the time he lived at Kenwood, and visitors to the house remarked on the strange atmosphere of the place.
The Lennons lived at Kenwood for most of the next four years. While no lavish parties were ever held, to Cynthia's disappointment, numerous guests (including Monkee Michael Nesmith and his wife Phyllis, Bob Dylan and Peter Cook) stayed or dined at the house, together with old friends like Peter Shotton from Liverpool, or strangers Lennon had met at a party or nightclub, such as the Ad Lib. Some of The Beatles' private parties (like their annual Christmas get-together, with their wives and girlfriends) were also held at Kenwood.
In May of 1968, after The Beatles' fallout with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Cynthia was vacationing in Greece, leaving John at home to handle band and business matters. After several days of tripping on LSD with and around Shotton, John phoned avant-garde Japanese artist Yoko Ono, whose own husband Tony (Anthony Cox) was in Paris on business, and invited her to Kenwood one Saturday evening. Shotton left the two alone, whereupon John invited Yoko (who had joined the drug trip) up to the attic to hear his non-Beatles recordings, largely experimental themselves. For the rest of the night, the two collaborated on what became the Two Virgins album, and then made love at dawn.
Cynthia returned early from her vacation, discovering Yoko in residence (and wearing one of Cynthia's bathrobes). Leaving first to stay with friends, then with her mother, Cynthia next moved back into Kenwood, as Lennon and Ono moved into Ringo Starr's Montagu Square apartment in London. As they divorced, it became clear that Lennon didn't wish to keep the property, and Cynthia couldn't afford to maintain it on her own, so Kenwood was sold.
Lennon married Ono on March 20, 1969, after her divorce from Anthony Cox, and the two moved into Tittenhurst Park in Ascot. Cynthia remarried, eventually living in a small house in Bangor, North Wales.
Kenwood has subsequently changed hands several times, and been subject to some major renovation work, such that the interior now little resembles the house that Lennon lived in. The psychedelic eye mural in the swimming pool has also long been removed.
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