Mayfair mansion worth up to £100m for sale
A Mayfair mansion, which could be worth up to £100m after redevelopment, is on the market, making it the largest residential property currently on sale in London.
The Grade II-listed building at 38 Hill Street is on offer for £38m, with estate agents saying it could remain as a single mansion or be transformed into flats, a five-star hotel or embassy building.
38 Hill Street, which is being sold by estate agents Gerald Eve and Wetherell, has 17,131 sq ft of space and could house a professional kitchen, staff quarters, wine vaults, home cinema and a health and leisure complex with swimming pool, gym and up to 16 bedrooms.
As a hotel, it could provide up to 30 bedrooms and offer a concierge reception, lounges, cocktail bar, fine dining and entertaining rooms on the ground and first floors with a gym and back-of-house facilities on the basement level.
The Georgian property, which was designed by architect Benjamin Timbrell for local landowner Lord Berkely, was built between 1748 and 1749 and has a long and vibrant history.
John Pitt, the brother of former prime minister William Pitt the Younger, was one of the first occupiers of the property, which played host to political figures, royalty and senior naval staff.
In the late 1890s it was bought by finance, publishing and property mogul EG “Isaac” Raphael who refurbished the mansion.
It remained in private ownership until the Second World War, when it was requisitioned to become the London headquarters of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, as the women’s arm of the British Army was then known.
In 1946, 38 Hill Street was bought by the RNVR and The Naval Club and has served as their base ever since, hosting guests including The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh.