50 St James's Street

50 St James's Street is a Grade II listed house in St James's Street, St James's, London SW1,[1] opposite White's Club.

50 St James's Street

It was built in 1827, and designed by the architects Benjamin Wyatt and Philip Wyatt, as Crockford's, a gentleman's club. It was altered from 1870–75 by C. J. Phipps.[1]

From 1999 to 2009, a luxury casino named Fifty, owned by Robert Earl, operated on the premises.[2][3]

Next, the property was bought by undisclosed Russian investors, with a redevelopment plan headed by Luca Del Bono, an Anglo-Italian property developer. To this end, in 2011, Westminster City Council approved plans to create a members' club, spa, 14-bed hotel, and two public restaurants.[3] However, the development plan never materialised.

In 2014, the property was bought by the Russian billionaire Andrey Goncharenko for £70 million, apparently with the intention of converting it to residential use. The building sat empty, until it was occupied by squatters in 2017.[4][5]

References
  1. Historic England. "Devonshire Club (1235890)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  2. "Salvatore Calabrese at Fifty". The Caterer. 23 February 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  3. "Russians' new club venture that may have tunnel vision". 25 November 2011.
  4. "Revealed: Russian oligarch behind purchase of UK's most expensive home". rt.com.
  5. Taylor, Diane (27 January 2017). "Squatters turn oligarch's empty London property into homeless shelter" – via The Guardian.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.