Hanover Lodge 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 at 150 Park Road, London NW1, overlooking

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

. It was designed by the architect John Nash, and built for General Sir Robert Arbuthnot. Since then, it has been home to several notable people, was part of Bedford College, and the residence of the French ambassador, before the businessman and Conservative peer Lord Bagri purchased a 150-year lease from the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

in 1994. 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 ...

purchased the outstanding lease from Lord Bagri in 2012 for £120 million.

History

Hanover Lodge was built in about 1827, and designed by the architect John Nash, "the only villa in the Park personally designed by Nash", for Robert Arbuthnot. From 1832 to 1845, it was the home of

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, mercenary and Radical politician. He was a ...

, and the exterior bears a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

in his honour. From 1848 to 1897, it was the property of the banker Matthew Uzielli (1806–1860) and his descendants. The upper storey was totally rebuilt in about 1909, and the house extended, by the architect

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

. From 1911 to 1925, it was the home of

David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (17 January 1871 – 12 March 1936) was a Royal Navy officer. After serving in the Mahdist War and then the response to the Boxer Rebellion, he commanded the 1st Battlecruiser Squadro ...

, and the exterior bears a

in his honour. From 1926, it was the home of the American heiress and socialite Mrs von Hofmannsthal (née Astor), daughter-in-law of the poet and librettist

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-class ...

. From 1948, it was part of Bedford College, but in the 1990s it was rented by the French government to house their ambassador. In 1994, the businessman and Conservative peer Lord Bagri purchased a 150-year lease on Hanover Lodge from the

for £5.9 million and over the next 12 years spent millions of pounds renovating it, hiring the architect

Quinlan Terry John Quinlan Terry Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 24 July 1937) is a British architect. He was educated at Bryanston School and the Architectural Association School of Architecture. He was a pupil of architect Raymond Erith, with whom ...

to supervise, including an underground swimming pool that can be converted into a ballroom. Renovations were finally completed in 2009, "after 10 years and 100 applications for planning and listed building consents" costing an estimated £25 million. In 2012,

, a Russian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

, bought Hanover Lodge for £120 million from Lord Bagri. In 2014, the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' called it "the most expensive

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

ever sold in Britain". By way of comparison, Park Place, a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

with 200 acres of grounds in

Remenham Remenham is a village and civil parish on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames opposite Henley-on-Thames in southern England. It is particularly well known for the steep approach, known as Remenham Hill or White Hill (due to the chalky nature ...

, near

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

was sold for £140 million; and an apartment at

One Hyde Park One Hyde Park is a major residential and retail complex located in Knightsbridge, London. The development includes three retail units (Rolex, McLaren Automotive and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank) and 86 residential properties marketed with prices starti ...

, in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

, went for £136 million, both in 2011. Goncharenko has made a series of

planning application Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

s to "further enlarge the basement and to remodel the interior" of the 26,000 sq ft house. The basement already has a swimming pool that converts into a ballroom, but it has been deemed to be "too small". The extension would include a new larger pool, sauna and steam room, gym, beauty salon, yoga studio, two massage rooms, a cinema, wine cellar and games room. Above ground, "much of the work appears to involve ripping out large swathes of expensive décor only recently installed by Lord Bagri, including intricate cornicing, decorative wall-frieze paintings and timber and marble floors".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanover Lodge Buildings and structures completed in 1827 Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed houses in London Houses in the City of Westminster Buildings and structures in Regent's Park John Nash buildings Regency architecture in London