UK’s most expensive residential property demolition project unveiled

Mews houses are popular in London and known for their traditional architecture but now one is to be knocked down and rebuilt in what is being described as the UK’s most expensive demolition project.

The carriage house in question in the heart of London’s Mayfair is on sale for £35 million and looks exceptionally pretty with a pink façade and a traditional private garden but has permission to be razed to the ground and replaced with an ultra modern mansion that could be worth £65 million.

Apparently the property in Mount Row, just a few minutes from the famous Connaught Hotel, is too outdated for today’s wealthy buyers and there is planning permission for a 16,000 square foot villa over six floors, including two basement levels, a landscaped garden and a guest villa at the end of the plot.

At £35 million for the land, plus builders costs, this represents the most expensive house demolition project ever undertaken in the country and agents Wetherell claim that once completed the property could be worth around £65 million, generating the new owner a £20million to £28million profit.

Mount Row was originally occupied by stable yards and cabinet making and upholstery workshops which served Mayfair’s grandest mansions. The house at 30 Mount Row was originally a carriage house, built to accommodate horse drawn carriages and related tack, with the coachmen sleeping in the eaves. Behind the carriage house was a large stable yard.

The coachmen of Mount Row were known as the whips or Mayfair whips, and are believed to be the inspiration for the famous phrase ‘crack the whip’. In 1886 the birth of the motorcar led to upheaval between the 1890s and 1930s with the carriage houses in Mount Row converted into houses and garages and the stable yards transformed into gardens.

The new mansion would have a 50 foot south facing frontage spanning four windows across. The ground and first floor would provide for grand entertaining rooms including an entrance lobby, library, three reception rooms, family kitchen/breakfast room and 26 seat formal dining room.

The 2,000 square foot master bedroom suite, with walk in dressing room, shoe room and two ensuite bathrooms would occupy the entire second floor, with a further five bedroom suites on the two uppermost floors. The lower ground floors of the new mansion are currently designed to provide a bowling alley, swimming pool and Jacuzzi pool room surmounted by skylights, cocktail bar, gymnasium, beauty salon, sauna, steam room, changing facilities and wine cellars. The mansion has a grand main staircase and lift to all floors.

The residence will open onto a landscaped garden leading onto the guest villa which is designed to provide a guest living room, kitchen and bedroom suite. The villa directly connects under the garden with the main house via a staircase to the lower ground floors.

‘The site is for sale for £35 million with consent to knock down and replace the exiting property. Therefore some have called this site the most expensive house knock down in the UK,’ said Peter Wetherell, managing director of Wetherell.

However, this is only half the story. Firstly the site is for sale on a freehold basis, which is extremely sought after in Mayfair. Secondly, the planning allows the buyer to create a bespoke new mansion of outstanding luxury and quality. Finally, the completed residence could be worth circa £65 million, effectively doubling the value of site,’ he explained.

‘For a discerning buyer this is an outstanding investment opportunity with the potential for huge capital value uplift. The Mount Row location is outstanding, in the heart of Mayfair and just moments from the Connaught Hotel and Mount Street,’ he added.

View more property in the United kingdom