The world's grandest student house is for sale, with cinema, steam room, roof garden, and a starring role as Oscar Wilde's Bohemian hotspot
This £14 million Mayfair townhouse was immortalised by Oscar Wilde in his most famous play.
A luxurious London pad is an absolute necessity for the likes of dandy Algernon Moncrieff in Oscar Wilde’s iconic play The Importance of Being Ernest. 130 years after its first performance it's enduringly popular; for proof of that, one need look no further than the Noël Coward Theatre. The show has just finished a run there, which starred Stephen Fry and received rave reviews, despite being first performed in 1895. And now, for the real fans of the play among us, the chance to live a truly Wilde life has arrived.
Algernon's bachelor pad was no fictional creation, but instead an apartment at 14 Half Moon Street in Mayfair. At the time the play was written, the house — a Georgian terrace erected in 1730 — was owned by the Gannon family, and divided into what the Victorians called 'bachelor's chambers'. Many of Wilde's circle lived in these lodgings and others on the same street.
14 Half Moon Street in London, immortalised by Oscar Wilde.
In the days since then, the building has seen many more changes, briefly being used as offices after the Second World War. In 2008 the building was changed back into its original form, a 5,000sq ft townhouse, and ten years ago it became what is almost certainly the planet's grandest student digs (of which more later). Now, it's on the market via Beauchamp Estates at £14 million.
It's elegant and genteel now, but in Wilde's day Half Moon Street was a hotpot of Bohemian life in London, centred on the tavern and lodgings Fleming’s at number 10 (now the extremely upmarket Fleming’s Mayfair Hotel). The playwright regularly spent time here partying with his friends and collaborators, away from his wife and children back in Chelsea; his friend, confidant and lover Robbie Ross lived on the road at number 40.
Even before Wilde's time, Half Moon Street — and specifically number 14 — had attracted the great and the good. James Boswell, Dr Johnson's biographer, lived here in the 18th century, while the fascinating Irish courtesan Lola Montez based herself here while in London in the mid 19th century. The First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon lived here, as did poet Hugh Walpole and the famed actor and costumier Reggie de Veulle.
In 2016, the house's history took a new turn as it was bought by a millionaire from the United Arab Emirates, who picked it up for £13.5 million as a place for his daughter to live while studying at the London School of Economics.
If you find it incredible that someone could spend so much on student accommodation, you're not alone. 'It's mad, isn't it?' agent Jeremy Gee told The Times. 'But we’ve seen it before plenty of times.'
And, frankly, if you've got an eight-figure budget for a student home, then why not? After all, the steam room, cinema, cocktail bars (yes, plural) and chic roof garden look absolutely ideal for unwinding after a long hard day of lectures.
So, if you have a child in need of a luxury student pad, the 5,017 square foot apartment is for sale for £14 million, and is in immaculate condition. If you're worried about the practicalities of living in a seven-storey building, you'll be thrilled to hear that it comes with a 'secret lift', with doors disguised as wardrobes on each floor. Gee added to The Times this is a residential feature that is ‘essential for any buyer from the Middle East’. I’m sure the bachelor Algernon Moncrieff, with his penchant for leading a double life, would have also been a fan.
14 Half Moon Street is for sale with Beauchamp Estates — see more details.
