50 St James's Street is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

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 centu ...

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

, London SW1, opposite White's Club. 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 A gentlemen's club is a private social club of a type originally established by males from Britain's upper classes starting in the 17th century. Many countries outside Britain have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with th ...

. 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 film producer, investor, restaurateur, and television personality. He is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ...

, 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. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. Full council meetings ...

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 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 Land ownership and tenure, own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estima ...

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