Albemarle Street

The Brief

This project saw the conversion of a magnificent Beaux-Arts office building into luxury residential units for sale. Built in 1905 at the same time as Regent Street, the property is located within a conservation area in the heart of Mayfair and is situated opposite the Royal Institution of Great Britain. It was once home to the showrooms for Buick motorcars, from which Edward VIII ordered a custom limo for himself, fitted with its own drinks cabinet.

The scheme created 3 large lateral apartments, a duplex penthouse and a Pied a Terre. Whilst the street façade was mainly retained the mansard structure at the fourth and fifth floors was completely rebuilt and a major re-structuring of the intermediate floors was undertaken. Substantial works to the rear façade enabled the addition of contemporary features, such as the provision of outdoor spaces and the enlargement of window areas. The roof was extended to a mansard roof to create the duplex penthouse, with large atelier windows looking on to the street and landscaped terraces to the interior.

Client

Albemarle Street Holdings

Location

London W1

Architect

Eric Parry Architects

Size

18,000 ft²

Sector

  • Residential Developments

Services

  • Cost Consultancy
  • Project Management
  • Health & Safety (CDM)
  • Party Wall & Neighbourly Matters

The Challenge

We were engaged on this project from inception and played a critical role in ensuring it received planning consent. Once on site, an added complexity to the project was that a world-famous Japanese restaurant, situated in part of the ground floor and basement of the existing building, remained trading for the duration of the building works. Having a combined appointment which included the provision of Party Wall services greatly aided our ability to sensitively work around the needs of adjoining owners and other stakeholders.

As part of the interior dressing of the duplex penthouse a Steinway Grand Piano was installed on the top floor which involved the piano being craned in through a 4th floor window and then manoeuvred up the internal stairway to be placed on the 5th floor. Unfortunately the eventual purchaser of the apartment did not want the piano and so it was later carefully removed again a few months later.

The Outcome

The interior of the apartments was designed by Studio Mackereth, and delivered a sophisticated layout with high quality finishes throughout. An interior designer was brought on board to individually dress each of the spaces and bring the apartments to life to show the lifestyle possible which added to the saleability and sales value or each unit. The units were sold on by the developer with or without the interior furniture fixtures fittings and accessories. The project won the Residential Development Interior of the year award in 2015.

Following the successful sale of all the apartments we assisted the Client in monitoring tenant alteration works.

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“Is it gorgeous? Sure. Would I like to live there? Yes, please…it’s borderline perfect.”
Giles Hattersley
The Sunday Times

Other Projects We’ve Completed Include

The Vineyard

Pinnacle N10

South Molton Street & Browns