'You have a town house, I hope?' Thus is Jack Worthing quizzed by Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest.

Jack does, indeed, have a townhouse, albeit on what Lady Bracknell deems to be the ‘unfashionable side’ of Belgrave Square. The play was written toward the end of the 19th century when it was customary for wealthy families to own both a country house and a house in town to which they and their servants decamped for the social season. Jack Worthington’s townhouse might have been on the unfashionable side of Belgrave Square, but the square itself was the height of desirability, inhabited at various times by the Duke of Richmond, the Duke of Devonshire and Queen Victoria’s mother.

Like most townhouses, Jack’s would have been terraced – only the very grandest London townhouses were detached – and arranged over three or more floors, quite possibly with a balconet on the first floor. But it would have had a relatively limited footprint: John Nash’s elegant but narrow, stucco-fronted townhouses are typical of the period.

Due to demographic changes, townhouses went out of fashion in the Victorian era, but they have certainly returned to favour now. Not only do those original townhouses suit the requirements of modern families who want to live in an convenient urban setting, but they have the added attraction of period features such as high ceilings, deep sash windows and open fire places.

Townhouses are not only found in the Capital, nor are they necessarily period properties. Developers both in London and elsewhere appreciate their cost-effective use of space and elegant lines and build them where footprint is limited but spec is high. Such up-to-the-minute dwellings are always in high demand: in the 21st century, there is no such thing as an unfashionable townhouse.