The Naval Club in Mayfair has come to market for £35m, presenting a prime opportunity for the development of a new boutique hotel in the heart of London.
The freehold of the building at 38 Hill Street is for sale, and marks one of the largest and most prestigious commercial buildings currently on the market in London’s Mayfair.
The Grade-II listed building offers 17,131 sq ft of accommodation, including grand state rooms, over basement, ground and four upper floors and is for sale via joint agents Gerard Eve or Wetherell.
Previous guests to the private member’s club include Lord Louis Mountbatten, The Queen and The Prince of Wales.
The sale offers a hotel group or leisure operator the opportunity to refurbish the property into a four or five-star boutique comprising up to 30 bedrooms, alongside a reception, lounges, cocktail bar, restaurant as well as a gym and back-of-house facilities on the basement level.
The historic building has an illustrious history, dating back to 1748.
One of the early occupants was John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham (1756-1835), the First Lord of the Admiralty and brother of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.
In the late 1890s the property was purchased by property and publishing tycoon E G “Isaac” Raphael who in 1905 commissioned architect William Flockhart to lavishly refurbish the façade and interiors.
The property remained in private ownership until World War II, when it was requisitioned for use as a London headquarters by the Army’s Auxiliary Territorial Service.
In 1946 the freehold of 38 Hill Street was purchased from the Raphael family and it has been the home of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) and The Naval Club ever since.
Peter Wetherell, founder & chairman of Wetherell says: “it is extremely rare in Mayfair to have the opportunity to purchase the freehold of an entire mansion building of this size which is still configured as a vast single property. If remodelled into a super-prime mansion 38 Hill Street would be one of the most valuable, largest and prestigious private homes in Mayfair. Alternatively a developer could converted the building into a prestigious multi-unit residential development for which there remains a significant demand and a shortage of supply in Mayfair.”
