Emin weaves £4m scheme to keep art in Spitalfields

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She paid just under £4 million to buy Tenter Ground in Spitalfields - despite describing the move as a "stupid project".

Emin's new property was constructed in the 17th century by Flemish refugees, and was marketed at £1.5 million.

But the artist, famous for her provocative artwork Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, also needed to buy out the leases of artistsworking there, adding to the cost before she can start the two-and-a-half year restoration project to create a vast studio.

She hopes to halt the spread of commercial and corporate development which has transformed Spitalfields, an area with a strong architectural and creative history.

Emin, 44, lives nearby and her new property is a short walk from her former shop in Brick Lane, where she worked with fellow artist Sarah Lucas in the early Eighties.

The Turner-prize nominee said: "The whole area was full of artists then. The rents were comparatively low and there were lots of our friends around us using freezing cold studios. It is a listed building and it is important to me to keep artists working in the area and keep it in artisan use. And also not to have it turned into a hotel or restaurant.

"It would be far cheaper for me to buy somewhere else. It wasn't a deal in that sense. But I like the idea of keeping that use for the building."

Emin already owns two studios in Spitalfields and Tenter Ground will add another 8,000 square feet of creative space to her portfolio.

She said: "I have a great respect for the area. I could live anywhere in London. But I love the urbanness of Spitalfields. It is going to be great to have a studio that I can decorate to my own taste - a bit like my own home. I have no intention of ever selling. I want to be working here when I am an old lady."