1 Hanover Terrace is on sale with Sotheby’s with a guide price of £29m
(Picture: Sotheby’s)The British founder of Addison Lee has put his colossal London home overlooking Regent’s Park on the market for £29 million.
“There is no better view in London,” said John Griffin who bought the six-bed, eight-bathroom property in Hanover Terrace in 2013.
Mr Griffin, 79, has been living in the home and spending his weekends in Hertfordshire but is now selling to enjoy a slower pace of life in the countryside.
Designed by Buckingham Palace architect John Nash in 1811, the five-storey townhouse, for sale through Sotheby’s International Realty, has a walled garden leading to a separate mews house — ideal for staff, guests or family.
Grade I-listed, the property for sale has a staggering 6, 730 square feet of living space (5,508 in the main property and 1,222 in the mews).
Inside, there are vast light-filled rooms for entertaining, grand statement fireplaces, period cornicing and spectacular chandeliers.
A cinema room with cocoa-coloured velvet curtains, a gym, a sauna and a double garage are on the lower floors.
The glamourous master suite takes up the entirety of the first floor.
The house comes with a Crown Estate lease of approximately 110 years and the new owner will benefit from the terrace’s private, manned, 24-hour security.
Born above a shop during World War II, Mr Griffin left school without qualifications after being taken seriously ill with tuberculosis. He began working as a minicab driver to support his father’s struggling business, before founding premium cab and courier company Addison Lee in 1975, using just one car. Nearly 40 years later he sold his company, by then the largest firm of its kind in Europe, for £350 million.
In 2014, Mr Griffin set up a charitable foundation that has donated £12 million to building biomedical research centre The Griffin Institute, at Northwick Park Hospital near Harrow. He plans to donate an unknown proportion of the proceeds of this sale to his foundation.
Lee Koffman, Head of North London Sales, is managing it. He said: “This is a wonderful home in one of the most sought after addresses in London. It’s a real trophy asset house. But not only that, it’s a trophy asset location. It’s the best of the best.”
The UK’s richest living artist, Damien Hirst, reportedly paid £40m for his own Hanover Terrace home in 2014 before installing a yoga room and swimming pool.
Close by are the many cafes, independent boutiques and restaurants of fashionable Marylebone and St John’s Wood, with both Baker Street and St John’s Wood Tube stations a short stroll away. Other local attractions include London Zoo and the Open Air Theatre.
First listed a couple of months ago, Mr Koffman has seen a fair bit of interest from potential Asian buyers, as well as some American buyers, possibly because reputed independent school The American School in London is within walking distance.
