In London’s Chelsea neighborhood, a former courthouse-turned-home is being shopped around off-market for $19 million. 

The roughly 5,400-square-foot building is believed to date to the 18th century, according to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It sits on a secluded cobblestone street called Justice Walk in an area known as Old Chelsea, said listing agent Charlie Gibson of Oliver Bernard Private.

The building, which was converted into a home in the late 1990s, has five bedrooms. The owner is philanthropist Sylvia Pessoa Bourne, who said it was purchased by her ex-husband, real-estate investor Graham Bourne, in the late 1990s, but she doesn’t recall the purchase price. She became the sole owner of the home after the couple divorced.

From the courthouse, it is believed that prisoners were led to boats on the nearby River Thames and sailed to Australia, according to the borough. The building has taken on other roles over the years and was used by wine merchants in the 1900s, according to the borough. But before the Bournes, it was never a residential home, Gibson said.

Sylvia Bourne said she and her ex-husband spent about three years and millions of dollars converting the space into a home with the help of artist Mauro Perucchetti, a former interior designer. “The building was really very old and not in very good shape,” said Perucchetti. “It was just a set of offices and rooms.”

The Bournes kept the original exterior of the home and restored it, but made extensive changes to the interior, including opening up the floor plan. “We changed the layout completely because you can imagine, being a courthouse, it was not designed for living,” Perucchetti said.

Sylvia Bourne said they modeled the primary suite after the Amanpuri hotel in Thailand, where she stayed just before the renovations on the house began. She is an avid art collector, and wanted a home suitable for showing off her collection. On the ground floor, Perucchetti created double-height ceilings and extended the windows. 

Perucchetti said he used rustic arts and crafts-style finishes, including tall teak doors with large bronze handles and a custom carved-stone fireplace. Teak is used throughout the entire home, he said. An indoor bridge on the second level overlooks the main living room and leads to the upstairs bedrooms. The bridge runs through a wall of stones that Perucchetti said he picked and placed by hand. 

Once the home was complete, the Bournes occasionally rented it out, according to Sylvia Bourne, who said she lives in Monaco but has also used the property as a second home. She said she’s decided to sell because her children are now adults and the space is too big for her.

Homes in the Old Chelsea area rarely trade hands, according to Gibson. Last year, only three homes in the area sold, all with closing prices over $10 million, he said.