‘Exceptionally rare’ Park Lane mansion with record-breaking potential comes to market for £42.5 million

This palatial property, complete with Mayfair's largest private swimming pool, is the most significant Park Lane sale in almost 20 years

By Stephanie Bridger-Linning

Underground swimming pool in Park Lane mansion — The six-bedroom Park Lane property boasts a swimming pool worthy of a five-star hotel / Image: Wetherell & Darran Mulcahy Photography

A palatial Park Lane mansion that has recently come to market for £42.5 million has the potential to break real estate records, according to experts.

The 11,000 sq ft, six-bedroom property, which is being sold via joint sole selling agents Wetherell and Sotheby’s International Realty, is one of only two mansions on Park Lane and represents an ‘exceptionally rare’ opportunity to own a standalone property at one of London’s most illustrious addresses in the heart of Mayfair.

‘World-class mansions of this quality and stature are for sale once in a generation,’ says Richard Cutt, Associate Director at Sotheby’s International Realty UK.

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Peter Wetherell, Founder and Chairman of Wetherell, explains the mansion is the ‘largest and most important home to be listed on Park Lane for sale since 2006’ when the nearby Dudley House was sold as an office building to the Qatari royal family for £37.4 million, before being converted back into a private residence. ‘The only two equivalent nearby mansions in Mayfair are both owned by the Qatari royal family,’ he adds. ‘This gives you an indication of the significance of the current sale.’

A £42.5 million deal would be the biggest ever home sale on Park Lane.

The storied history of the Park Lane palace

The principal bedroom suite (pictured) occupies the entire second floor and offers views over Hyde Park / Image: Wetherell & Darran Mulcahy Photography

Originally built in the late 1850s by Thomas Cundy II under the auspices of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster (ancestor of the Duke of Westminster), the palatial residence was lavishly refurbished in the early 1900s after it was bought by influential art dealer Henry Joseph Duveen, whose clients included William Randolph Hearst, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Mellon.

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Duveen enlisted the talents of the interior designer and architect W. H. Romaine-Walker, who installed magnificent fireplaces, a grand marble staircase and French Empire ceiling cornicing that is among the best surviving examples in Mayfair.

Five-star amenities at home

A private, temperature-controlled wine cellar (pictured) is just one of the luxuries offered by the 11,000 sq ft home / Image: Wetherell & Darran Mulcahy Photography

Arranged over seven floors, the mansion boasts impressive hallmarks of ultra high-end interior design: a Baccarat crystal chandelier hangs in the lobby and Noir Saint Laurent marble creates a feeling of opulence in the guest powder room.

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The principal bedroom suite occupies the entire second floor and offers a captivating view over Hyde Park. There is also a library, cinema, wine cellar and reception rooms large enough to accommodate 150 guests.

The crowning glory is arguably the opulent spa and 15m swimming pool, which is the largest in a private home in Mayfair. The scale and quality of this underground leisure complex is more typically seen in five-star hotels or super-prime apartment developments such as One Hyde Park or Claridge’s Mayfair.

A deal driven by the dollar

The grand reception rooms within the Park Lane property are spacious enough to accommodate 150 guests / Image: Wetherell & Darran Mulcahy Photography

Despite the imposing grandeur, ‘this Park Lane property remains essentially a superb family home’, Wetherell insists. The property agents expect it will attract international interest from an UHNW family seeking a ‘trophy home’ in London.

Wetherell continues: ‘We believe that the buyer is potentially likely to originate from the US due to the buying power of the US dollar. There have been a series of major deals in Mayfair to American buyers over the last few months.’ (A recent report by Henley & Partners also revealed the US is home to more centi-millionaires – individuals with a net worth of $100 million – than any other country in the world).

‘Other potential buyers by country of origin include a buyer from the UK, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, India and the Far East.’

The opulence continues in the master bathroom / Image: Wetherell & Darran Mulcahy Photography

Private kingdoms

Demand for super-prime homes like the Park Lane mansion has increased since the pandemic. ‘The COVID-19 pandemic was a game-changer,’ explains Wetherell. ‘Prior to the pandemic many ultra-high-net-worth buyers wanted lateral residences in multi-unit super-prime developments.

‘But with the COVID-19 pandemic, wealthy buyers in London really appreciated the value in owning a house or mansion which allowed them to totally control their living environment and who had access to their home.’

There has been a significant upturn in demand for houses and mansions priced £15 million and above. ‘We have seen over the last year a series of important deals for houses, with a series of large house sales agreed,’ Wetherell added.