A London Duplex With Ties to Early 20th-Century Royalty Comes with a Secret Garden

A duplex unit with access to a secret garden in the heart of London’s Mayfair neighborhood is now available for £8.25 million (US$10.67 million).

Like most homes in Mayfair, this one has a long and royal history punctuated by war. The three-story unit is located on Park Avenue on the ground-level of a grand Edwardian mansion that was once the home of the wealthy Earls of Lindsay.

One of several units in the brick rowhouse, it spans 3,394 square feet and features three en-suite bedrooms, 10-foot ceilings, a guest cloakroom beside the reception hall and French doors that lead to the private Green Street Gardens.

The “secret” gardens are the highlight of the property, said Peter Wetherell of the brokerage Wetherell, which is representing the seller, who could not be identified.

“If you just walk the streets of Mayfair you’d never know that the garden exists,” he said.

The residence is part of a nearly rectangular complex of townhouses that borders the interior Green Street Gardens, which are therefore largely undetectable from the outside. The gardens are accessible to about 30 homeowners, according to Wetherwell.

Located just a block away from Hyde Park, the site originally held a 1778 Georgian building, which was demolished during a rebuilding of the Grosvenor Estate in the late 19th century, according to information from Wetherwell. The current Edwardian mansion was on track to be built in 1913, but the interruption of World War I delayed its completion until 1925.

In the 1930s, it was purchased by Scottish nobleman Reginald Lindesay-Bethune, the 12th Earl of Lindsay, who was known to host cocktail parties for his prestigious neighbors.

The Earl died just before the beginning of World War II, at which point the home was shuttered.

Afterward the whole complex was converted to office space under a temporary provision that expired in 1990—at which point it was returned to its original residential use.

The gardens have their own backstory. They were designed by Grosvenor Estate architect Edmund Wimperis prior to World War I on the grounds that had once been the Royal Stables. The garden was meant to enhance the value of the properties that bordered it, which has apparently worked.

One of the neighboring properties, which was once the Cypriot embassy, sold for £25 million (US$32.5 million) last year. That home spans 8,435 square feet and also has access to the secret garden.

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A London Duplex With Ties to Early 20th-Century Royalty Comes with a Secret Garden

The Mayfair home, listed for £8.25 million, once belonged to the Earls of Lindsay.

Atlas Real Estate is reimagining how people connect with property, combining listings, market insights, local stories and lifestyle content in one destination for those buying, selling or simply exploring the market.