Paul McCartney was living with girlfriend Jane Asher in her family home on Wimpole Street for just over two years when he decided it was time to get his own place. While the other Beatles were all heading out to the country, McCartney chose to stay in London and, in May of 1965, he purchased a house in the North London neighborhood of St. John's Wood. (photo credit: © RockTourLondon)
The property at #7 Cavendish Avenue was a three storey house located just a few blocks from the St. John's Wood underground station and is less than a 10 minute walk from Abbey Road Studios. The purchase was made for £40,000 from a doctor named Desmond O'Neil. (photo credit: © RockTourLondon)
Having been very content living in the Asher residence, I mean he did write 'Yesterday' there, he knew his renovation plans for the new place would incorporate the comfort of Wimpole Street using it as a model for his remodel plans. Those plans proved so extensive they took nearly a year to complete and included a large gate and intercom system at the street entrance to provide an extra layer of security and privacy.
Construction complete, the couple moved in in March 1966. While work commitments took Jane Asher away for extended periods of time, Paul fell easily into a bachelor lifestyle inclusive of frequenting clubs and entertaining beautiful girls. There were always friends visiting as well. Recurring visits by folks like Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Marianne Faithful, John Dunbar, Brian Jones and Robert Fraser, not to mention a host of others, became the norm. (photo credit: Bing images)
The couple's relationship started to become strained when, after an extended time away with The Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, Jane returned to find Paul and his friends really into drugs. She and her friends were really not into drugs.
Despite this and other issues, Paul and Jane announced their engagement on Christmas Day 1967 surprising many of their friends. That engagement ended a few months later when they parted ways. It is said that Paul wanted Jane to quit her acting career so they could start a family; things she didn't want to do at that point of her life. McCartney would later admit to a biographer that his Cavendish home became something of a personal harem during that time. There were always a lot of girls around vying for Paul's attention and there were many that succeeded in getting it. Those antics came to an abrupt stop however, when Linda Eastman moved in a few months later. (photo credit: Cees Bol on Pinterest)
The house on Cavendish became a regular hangout for The Beatles too, especially before and after recording sessions at nearby Abbey Road Studios. They spent a lot of time in the glass mediation room Paul had built in the garden which was furnished with a large round bed that had been gifted to him by Groucho Marx and Alice Cooper (that seems like a weird combination friendship to me, but I don't claim to understand the rockstar lifestyle for a minute - but I am willing to learn. Do you think there's an apprenticeship program or something?). (photo credit: © RockTourLondon)
But the band weren't the only ones to hang out here. Because he was the only Beatle living in London, Paul's house seemed to always have fans lingering out front. Those fans were known as Apple Scruffs as they would always linger in front of #3 Savile Row (Apple Corps Headquarters) too. Some of these fans were actually pretty friendly with Paul as he asked a few to walk his Old English Sheepdog, Martha, in Regent's Park occasionally.
But there was one fan that went just a bit too far. She was Diane Ashley and here's what she had to say: (quoted from Wikipedia):
"We were bored, he was out so we decided to pay him a visit. We found a ladder in his garden and stuck it up at the bathroom window which he'd left slightly open. I was the one who climbed up and got in."
Once inside, Ashley opened the front door to let the others in too. These "Scruffs" helped themselves to some of Paul's clothes and number of photographs. Margo Bird was an Apple Scruff that later got a job at Apple Corps. She was asked if she could get one of the photographs back for him. She was successful in retrieving a picture of Paul's father that he held dear. That incident is what inspired the song, "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window".
Cavendish served as Paul and Linda's London residence for their entire marriage. They would often walk Martha together in both Regent's Park and Primrose Hill.
In October 2011 following their wedding at the Westminster Registrar's Office (the same place he married Linda in 1969) where 30 guests witnessed their exchange of vows and rings, Paul and Nancy Shevell held an intimate reception for 100 star-studded guests (including David Gilmore and Jeff Beck) under a beautifully decorated tent erected in the driveway at #7 Cavendish Avenue. Mark Ronson, while performing DJ duties, was asked to reduce the volume around 130am when Noise Control Officers arrived on a noise complaint. Kate Moss and Ronnie Wood were among the last guests to leave around 3am. (photo credit: AceShowbiz.com)
St. John's Wood underground station is the closest to #7 Cavendish Avenue
Two of our walking tours make stops at Paul McCartney's house on Cavendish. Check them out here:
The Stories of Some Marylebone Places:
and
The Stories of Places Along Bakerloo, Jubilee & Northern Lines:
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