50 St James's Street is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

house in

St James's Street St James's Street is the principal street in the district of St James's, central London. It runs from Piccadilly downhill to St James's Palace and Pall Mall. The main gatehouse of the Palace is at the southern end of the road; in the 17th centur ...

St James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the de ...

, London SW1, opposite

White's Club White's is a gentlemen's club in St James's, London. Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair, it is the oldest gentleman's club in London. It moved to its current premises on St James's Street in 1778. Status White's is the oldes ...

. It was built in 1827, and designed by the architects Benjamin Wyatt and

Philip Wyatt Philip William Wyatt (5 March 1785 – 1835) was an English architect and member of the Wyatt family. He was the youngest son of the architect James Wyatt and his wife Rachel (Lunn) Wyatt, and a nephew of Samuel Wyatt, cousin to Sir Jeffry Wyatvil ...

, as Crockford's, a gentleman's club. It was altered from 1870–75 by C. J. Phipps. From 1999 to 2009, a luxury casino named Fifty, owned by

Robert Earl Robert Earl (born 29 May 1951) is an English-American businessman who is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, Chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ''Robert Earl's Be My Guest'' television program whic ...

, operated on the premises. Next, the property was secured by Luca Del Bono, an Anglo-Italian property developer. To this end, in 2011,

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

approved plans to create a members' club, spa, 14-bedroom hotel, and two public restaurants. In 2014, the property was bought by the Russian billionaire

Andrey Goncharenko Andrey Nikolaevich Goncharenko ( rus, Андрей Николаевич Гончаренко) is a Russian billionaire businessman, the CEO of a Gazprom subsidiary, and the owner of four central London houses bought for a total of £250 millio ...

for £70 million, apparently with the intention of converting it to residential use. The building sat empty, until it was occupied by

squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

s in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:50 St James's Street Buildings and structures completed in 1827 Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster St James's