The London house where Vincent van Gogh spent one of the happiest years of his life is up for sale for the first time in living memory, London Evening Standard reported.

The end-of-terrace "blue plaque" property in Hackford Road, near Brixton, is to be auctioned by Savills next month with a guide price of £475,000.

The three-storey, mid-19th century property has been in the same family for more than 60 years and has many period features that would have been familiar to the Dutch artist, including fireplaces and outdoor lavatory.

The house, which is being sold by the children of the elderly couple who owned it from the Forties, would have to be refurbished, including installation of central heating.

Independent agents have said it could be worth about £750,000 after modernisation.

Van Gogh arrived in London aged 20 to work at an art dealership in Southampton Street, Covent Garden, and took lodgings at the house in May 1873.

He lived in the front bedroom on the top floor and drew a sketch of the terrace. Letters sent to his brother Theo suggest his stay was a very settled time, although an unrequited crush on the landlady's daughter Eugenie Loyer is said to have marked the beginnings of his descent into mental illness.

A comment in one of his letters that "a woman does not grow old as long as she loves and is loved" was the inspiration for the play Vincent In Brixton set in the Hackford Road house.

In another letter he described the area as "quite beautiful and so quiet that you almost forget you are in London".