Former church behind Harrods is on sale for £55m after being converted to luxury home – 20 years after diocese sold it for just £1m
A FORMER church behind Harrods is on sale for £55million after being converted to a luxury home 20 years after the Diocese of London sold it for £1million.
St Saviours House measures to approximately 12,102 square feet, which boasts impressive 40-foot vaulted ceilings, stone pillars and oak beams.
The Grade II listed property's open plan living room is perfect for "spectacular entertaining unlike any other home in London", according to agents Knight Frank.
The property boasts seven large bedrooms, a glass lift, a gym and parking spaces for three cars, along with an entire floor 'dedicated to leisure'.
The property also houses a basement swimming pool, sauna, steam room, media room with bar and "treatment room".
The land on which the house was built was worth £300 in 1837, making its current £55million represent a 183,000-fold increase in value.
St Saviour's Church was originally designed by Belgrave Square architect George Basevi in 1838.
However in 1998, the Diocese of London, needing money for urgent repairs, sold the Knightsbridge property for £1million after congregation numbers fell.
Part of the property was kept as a place of worship, requiring the relocation of the church organ and the construction of an acoustic wall between the house and the church, reported .
The newly converted building was believed to have been bought for about £10 million by Alain Boublil, the lyricist who wrote the hit musicals Les Misérables and Miss Saigon.
But in 2009 he was said to have sold the home to a Thai businessman for £13.5million, with some of the current features.
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An agreement in place ensures that the bells will not be rung, meaning a prospective buyer would not need to worry about the noise.
Stuart Bailey, head of Knight Frank's Belgravia office, said the property has been refurbished twice in the past ten years and the new owner could walk in and live there "immediately", and could negotiate the purchasing of its furniture too.
He told The Times: "If it were a typical townhouse there would be quite a few empty rooms shut up. Here you use all the space, so it can feel cosy and comfortable."
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