Live in a WWII-Era U.S. Embassy in London for £21.5 Million
The three-bedroom, duplex apartment in the notable Mayfair building spans 4,400 square feet
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In the heart of London, a duplex apartment within the city’s former U.S. Embassy, which has been recently transformed into super-prime residences, has hit the market for £21.5 million (US$26.9 million).
The unit, which has been given the presidential moniker of the “Oval Residence,” is within No. 1 Grosvenor Square, and is the last sponsor unit available from developer Lodha UK. The building, on Mayfair’s uber-posh Grosvenor Square, served as the U.S. Embassy from 1938 until 1960, and then as the Canadian High Commission from 1962 until 2013. After being restored brick by brick, quite literally , it reopened as residences in 2022.
Some of the prominent figures of the 20th century have passed through its doors, including John F. Kennedy, who called it home when his father was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. in the 1930s, Winston Churchill and Eleanor Roosevelt, who was loaned an apartment when she visited London during World War II.
The three-bedroom home spans 4,400 square feet and was designed by Blandine de Navacelle, creative director of Studio Lodha, the developer’s interior design practice.
“No.1 Grosvenor Square is one of the capital’s most iconic addresses, and the design of the Oval Residence needed to reflect this,” de Navacelle said in a news release. “With large, open-plan living spaces and floor to ceiling windows, the residence offered the perfect backdrop for statement artwork and eclectic, sculptural furniture.”
The home also boasts a sleek kitchen, a home theatre, a dining area, wood-panelled walls, fireplaces and a 576-square-foot terrace.
“I regularly visit French galleries and furniture ateliers and am drawn to their art-centric approach to design and interiors,” de Navacelle said. “I wanted to bring a touch of this Parisian eclecticism to No.1 Grosvenor Square, creating a sophisticated and elegant private residence that blends both the classic and the contemporary.”
The turn-key flat is being sold with all of its furnishings.
Future occupants will also have access to the building’s amenities, including an in-house concierge team, a private health club and spa, a pool and a cinema.
Grosvenor Square has been one of London’s most-famed addresses for centuries. Currently in the middle of a dramatic remaking, No.1 Grosvenor Square is just one the enclave’s storied buildings to be undergoing, or to have undergone, a complete transformation.
The former U.S. Naval Building at No. 20, has been transformed into the first solely residential project from the Four Seasons, and the iconic Eero Saarinen-designed U.S. Embassy that spans the entire western side of the square, is set to become the Chancery Rosewood hotel by 2025.
London has no shortage of diplomatic buildings that have been transformed into luxury homes. In February, and for the first time in more than a century, the former Italian Embassy, now a lavish mansion, hit the market for £21.5 million . The former Cypriot Embassy, meanwhile, sold in March for £25 million to a buyer seeking a grand family home in the city.
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The 7,145-square-foot apartment, with European-inspired interiors, hasn’t traded hands since it was built in 2008.
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A Denver condo that hit the market earlier this week for $16 million is now the Mile High City’s most expensive listing.
The new listing by far beats the next-priciest home for sale, a condo in a new development that was put on the market at the beginning of the year for about $9.79 million.
The city’s most expensive single-family home is asking just shy of $9 million—the metro area’s priciest single-family homes tend to be in the Cherry Hills Village suburb.
At 7,145 square feet, the newly listed unit is nearly double the size of the one in the new development and more on par with the size of some of Denver’s most expensive single-family homes.
It’s on the top floor of a seven-story mixed-use building that was built in 2008 in the Cherry Creek neighbourhood, one of the most affluent areas of the city.
The last time the three-bedroom apartment sold was before it was even completed, though it’s been owned under a few different LLCs and trusts.
The seller, who Mansion Global wasn’t able to identify, bought the condo from the developer in September 2007 for $4.047 million, records show.
The design of the interiors is European-inspired, with decorative columns, elaborate millwork and ornate built-ins.
Plus, there’s a mahogany-clad study, a formal dining room that seats up to 30 guests and views of mountains and Denver Country Club’s golf course.
A private terrace adds 1,230 square feet of outdoor living space and features a fireplace and a built-in barbecue, according to the listing with Josh Behr of LIV Sotheby’s International Realty.
A representative for Behr didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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