LONDON — It has been likened to a beach hut, mocked as being garish and compared to a giant candy cane or an ice cream stall.

But this week, the High Court in London ruled that Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring, a property developer who painted her multimillion-dollar townhouse with red and white stripes, could ignore a planning order from the local council to cover the pattern.

The case, which was featured last year on a television program called “Posh Neighbors at War,” became a litmus test of sorts for British tolerance of creativity and eccentricity, as well as a proxy class war. It exploded about two years ago, when Ms. Lisle-Mainwaring drew the ire of her neighbors and the local council by painting the three-story building a provocative red and white.

The rowhouse, valued at about $8.3 million, is in South End, an exclusive cul-de-sac in Kensington, West London, one of the capital’s most rarefied neighborhoods. In an area known for its well-heeled bankers, Russian oligarchs and heiresses, neighbors protested that the “hideous” colors were a jarring anomaly amid the understated elegance of the surrounding area. The borough is home to imposing mansions, flocks of designer shops and Kensington palace, where Diana, Princess of Wales, once lived, and where Prince William and his wife, Kate, now live.