![Witanhurst 1379026 (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Witanhurst_1379026_%282%29.jpg)
Witanhurst is a large
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 ...
1930s
Georgian Revival
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...
mansion on in
Highgate
Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross.
Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...
, North London. It has had several prominent owners since being rebuilt by soap magnate Sir
Arthur Crosfield
Sir Arthur Henry Crosfield, 1st Baronet, (5 April 1865 – 22 September 1938) was a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington from 1906 to December 1910.
Background
In 1907 he married Domini Elliadi who was also active in Liberal polit ...
. After several decades of increasing dilapidation, it underwent substantial refurbishment after its 2008 sale to an offshore company owned by the family of Russian businessman
Andrey Guryev.
History
The original
estate, dating from 1774, was known as Parkfield, situated at the junction of Highgate West Hill and
The Grove. The current house, built between 1913 and 1920, was designed by architect George Hubbard for soap magnate Sir
Arthur Crosfield
Sir Arthur Henry Crosfield, 1st Baronet, (5 April 1865 – 22 September 1938) was a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington from 1906 to December 1910.
Background
In 1907 he married Domini Elliadi who was also active in Liberal polit ...
on an site. The mansion is
Grade-II* listed, meaning it has been judged to be of national historic or architectural interest.
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
has in the late twentieth-century and early twenty-first century placed the property on its
Buildings at Risk Register.
Paul Crosfield sold Witanhurst to the property developer Lionel Green in 1970, but it was possessed by banks shortly after, and owned by various other property developers for the next fifteen years. Various schemes for redeveloping Witanhurst were proposed and rejected by Camden council during this period including turning the house into a hotel or apartments, and various pieces of land from Witanhurst's large estate were sold.
In 1976, Witanhurst was bought by Al-Hasouwy for £1.3 million. He subsequently spent £500,000 developing the property. It was then put up for sale in 1977 for £7 million with planning permission for 63 houses. In 1984, the house was sold for £7 million by Noble Investment Corporation,
a
shell company
A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...
believed to have been linked to the al-Hasawi family.
Additionally, a revised scheme for 24 houses to be built on part of the land was sold for more than £7 million.
The buyer of the house was Mounir Developments, a company registered in the
tax haven
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
of Panama. The ultimate beneficial owner of Mounir Developments was eventually revealed in a court case to be
a relation of the Assad family, the ruling family of Syria, who were then in exile in England. Somar al-Assad, a cousin of the then Syrian president
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
, stated in a court case that he had not slept at Witanhurst in the previous eight years of ownership by a trust connected to the family.
![Witanhurst and St Michael's Church, Highgate-8491910905](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Witanhurst_and_St_Michael%27s_Church%2C_Highgate-8491910905.jpg)
Witanhurst was used as the location of BBC's ''
Fame Academy
''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known under va ...
'' talent show from 2002 to 2004. The interior of the house was renovated to add a recording studio and gym. During its use on the show Witanhurst was on
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
's list of
buildings "at risk". In 2002, during the first series of ''Fame Academy'', nine portable buildings, a television studio and generators were erected in front of Witanhurst without the requisite consent required for a listed building. The production company
Endemol
Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...
withdrew their application to use Witanhurst for a planned third series of the show in 2004 following a critical report by planners from
Camden London Borough Council
Camden London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Camden in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Camden is divided into 18 wards, each electing th ...
.
In 2007 the Assads sold Witanhurst to the British property developer
Marcus Cooper
Marcus Cooper Sr. (born February 1, 1990) is a former American football cornerback. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football for Rutgers University. Cooper has also ...
for £32.5 million. Cooper subsequently repaired Witanhurst to satisfy Camden council's previous complaints, and put the property up for sale for £75 million through the estate agents Glentree Estates and
Knight Frank
Knight Frank LLP is an estate agency, residential and commercial property consultancy founded in London by John Knight, Howard Frank and William Rutley in 1896. Knight Frank together with its American affiliate Cresa is one of the world's large ...
.
[
Witanhurst was bought by the family of the Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev through an offshore company called Safran Holdings, located in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands for £50 million in 2008. The owner of Witanhurst was not publicly known from its 2008 sale until the publication of a 2015 article by Ed Caesar in '']The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' magazine.
In September 2009 ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' erroneously stated that Witanhurst had been bought by Elena Baturina
Yelena Nikolayevna Baturina (russian: Елена Николаевна Батурина; born 8 March 1963) is an international billionaire businesswoman and a philanthropist of Russian origin. She is based in London. She was married to Yury Luz ...
, the wife of the former Mayor of Moscow
The Mayor of Moscow (russian: Мэр Москвы, Mer Moskvy) is the head and the highest-ranking official of Moscow, who leads the Government of Moscow, the main executive body of the city.
Moscow is both a city and separate federal subje ...
, Yuri Luzhkov Yuri may refer to:
People and fictional characters
Given name
*Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc.
* Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...
, via an offshore front company. Baturina sued the newspaper's owners Times Newspapers, a subsidiary of News International
News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
. Times Newspapers apologised for the story and paid damages to Baturina in October 2011.[
The redevelopment of Witanhurst has received widespread attention in the media, much of it focusing on the large basement extension to the main house that extends for two storeys below the entire footprint of the building. Over 90,000 square feet, Witanhurst is the second largest private residence in London, after ]Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
. It is said to be worth $450 million.
Facilities
The mansion has 65 rooms spread across three floors, including 25 bedrooms. One of the largest is the ballroom, measuring long with a height of . It has oak flooring and the timber wall panels are in walnut, with carved cornices embellished with gold leaf.
Other rooms are the drawing room, study, entrance hall and staircase, and most of the bedrooms are all in an opulent classical style. Other richly decorated rooms include the dining room, Chinese room, billiard room, and the gallery hallway. Access to the property is via a three-fingered gatehouse.
Filming location
Witanhurst has been used on several occasions as a filming location by various production companies including the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
''.