Tens of thousands of Brits automatically associate posh Grosvenor Square with having to stand nervously in line for hours—even if it is bucketing down with rain as it often is thanks to the British weather.
That is because for over 55 years this area in London’s Mayfair neighborhood is where the Eero-Saarinen-designed U.S. embassy, complete with a 35-foot aluminium bald eagle, has stood and where most British people wanting to work or study in America head for their interviews in order to have their visas approved.
However, when the sprawling building, which is the U.S.’s largest embassy in the world, was erected in 1960, it was not the first time important Americans had come to the square. In fact, it has long been the traditional home of the official American presence in London and this relationship stretches as far back as 1785 when former president John Adams moved there to begin his role as the U.S.’s first ambassador to the U.K.
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Adams was followed by another president— Dwight D. Eisenhower—who set up a military headquarters at 20 Grosvenor Square during the Second World War, dubbed “Eisenhower Platz.” Until a few years ago, this property served as the home of the U.S. Navy Forces in Europe, which is now based in Naples, Italy.
However, America’s 230-year-long association with Grosvenor Square will come to an end next year. The U.S. Embassy is moving to Wandsworth in south London as it needs more space and the old 1960s building is being turned into a hotel, while 20 Grosvenor Square is being developed into 37 luxury apartments.
Prices for these homes will start at £4 million ($5.9 million) for a one-bedroom and reach more than £35 million for a five-bedroom property. The development, due for completion in 2018, will include a pool, a gym, a cinema, a personal screening room and a car lift to its subterranean parking.
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Alex Michelin, the co-founder of Finchatton, the property developer behind the apartments, said: "It is once in hundreds of years that a building like this comes up. It is where Eisenhower was based during the war. The history is phenomenal. Think of the phone calls that happened here. We are discussing the possibility of calling one of the apartments the Eisenhower Suite in his honor."
Aerial view of Grosvenor Square
Qatari DiarBut what does this all mean for the future of the square and the homes surrounding it? According to Peter Wetherell, chief executive of Mayfair-based real estate agent Wetherell, all these changes will make Grosvenor Square the premier garden square address in London, putting upward pressure of house prices.
"The next five years will be the most significant in its 270 year history. Whilst there are no developments in the pipeline for rival premium squares, the relocations of the U.S. Embassy; the U.S. Navy offices at 20 Grosvenor Square and the Canadian High Commission out of Grosvenor Square provide a pipeline of new luxury property which will help to drive ￡per square foot values and we believe set new price benchmarks for Mayfair," he said.
Alastair Nicholson, an associate in Knight Frank’s Mayfair office, added that it is fast becoming the "most desirable" square in central London and the recent confirmation of the new five-star hotel conversion of the American Embassy coupled with the new schemes that are currently under construction "will only serve to reinforce the square’s premier position within central London". As a result, prices are likely to rise in the area, he said.
However, not all American influence will be lost. Eisenhower, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan will continue to watch over the square as their statues will remain center stage.