Two London residences make up Michael Winner’s choices – one of which he liked so much that he bought it himself

My favourite building is my own house, which is unquestionably one of the great houses of London. That is not just ownership pride talking; it was built in 1870 by the Victorian architect Norman Shaw for an artist called Sir Luke Fildes. Melbury Road in the mid-to-late-19th century was the Beverly Hills of London, and the stars were artists – not struggling or poor but very rich and successful. Each built a house using new designs and unusual materials, and had it not been quite largely knocked down it would have been one of the great sights of the world. As it is, it is on many tours of London.

The ugliest building in the world is a few doors down from me. It’s called Kingfisher House. It is a block of flats that is just that – a block.

It typifies one of the worst periods of British architecture, the 1960s, when design did not enter into it. The idea that something was new was in itself considered good, because having fought a war and gone forward to a new world, the idea was to cast off anything to do with the old world, such as quality of design. Kingfisher House is an upright monstrosity with cheap windows, no design at all, and it replaced an artist’s house that was a thing of great beauty.

Michael Winner’s autobiography, Winner Takes All, is published by Robson Books, price £17.95