In a small area in central London – just 3 square kilometers encompassing the luxury districts of Mayfair, Kensington, and Belgravia – over 90 billionaires call it home. The list of property owners in the area is extensive and includes luminous names like Idan Ofer, Roman Abramovich, and even the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
In less than two years, several new names will join this exclusive list – the owners of 29 apartments who will be able to ascend to their residences in private golden elevators, in what will likely be London’s most luxurious residential building and, relative to its size, probably the most expensive in the world. 1 Mayfair will span approximately 28,000 square meters, with an estimated value of £2 billion (about $2.5 billion).
The building offers 29 units for sale, 5 of which are studio apartments intended for staff or guests, according to the owner’s preference, and are expected to be sold alongside an apartment or penthouse. The 24 residential units are divided into 3 penthouses, two mega-apartments, 5 townhouses, and 14 “modest” sized apartments of about 280 square meters (3,000 sq ft) on a single level.
The developer is 71-year-old British billionaire John Caudwell, a colorful character known for the flashy jackets he designs for pleasure (he even sold 150 of his diamond-studded design), and who made his fortune from the mobile phone company Phones 4u, which he founded in the late 1980s.
He told The Sunday Times that the price of his building’s 3 penthouses would be around £200 million ($250 million), but when asked by Forbes, he declined to confirm or comment on this estimate.
For comparison, a three-level penthouse in New York’s Central Park Tower sold for $195 million in 2022 (£145 million), and above it on the price scale stands only the penthouse at 220 Central Park South, purchased by billionaire Ken Griffin in 2019 for $238 million (£178 million). This penthouse is considered the world’s most expensive residential unit, but its size – approximately 2,000 square meters – is more than double that of the largest penthouse in 1 Mayfair.
Griffin, incidentally, also owns a massive house in Mayfair, for which he paid about £90 million in 2019.
The current most expensive residential unit in London is owned by developer Nick Candy, in the building he constructed with his brother between Hyde Park and Harvey Nichols department store, One Hyde Park. The unit is valued at £175 million ($220 million). While the Candy brothers’ prestigious building features a modern style, Caudwell’s building adopts a neo-classical design using Portland stone – a high-quality British classical style, far removed from modernistic glass panels.
Construction, as observed during this week’s site visit, is in full swing. The location is indeed perfect – between South Audley Street and Waverton Street in the heart of Mayfair. Just 100 meters from the construction site, paparazzi wait outside the luxurious Dorchester Hotel, anticipating the latest movie star arriving for press interviews in one of the suites. On the way to Selfridges, I pass by the office of the legendary late Egyptian double agent Dr. Ashraf Marwan (80 Park Street, Apartment 3), who provided Israel with a warning before the Yom Kippur War.
Mayfair is a small district where wealth is prominently displayed. An impressive concentration of gleaming luxury cars are parked here, most with private registration plates (England has a thriving market for prestigious license plates), which can cost as much as a studio apartment in the city’s suburbs. The buzz of drills rises from the former American Embassy building in Grosvenor Square, currently being transformed into a massive luxury hotel with 137 rooms, named The Chancery Rosewood, which will further enhance the area when it opens next year.
Caudwell paid £150 million for the site (approximately 2.5 acres) in 2011, which previously housed an outdated parking structure from the early 1960s. He and his “modest” home (40,000 sq ft), which also serves as his office, were featured in the first episode of Netflix’s “Buying London,” which followed a top agent through London’s luxury homes. Caudwell stated he would be willing to sell his Park Street home for half a billion pounds.
Versailles and Michelangelo
The project, named 1 Mayfair, is breathtaking in its meticulous luxury: 7 floors plus a basement level and 4 underground levels, a 20-meter swimming pool, a car elevator garage for owners, an entrance in the form of a square with a central sculpture leading to the main entrance of the apartment building.
The private houses attached to the apartment building have private street entrances. Residents will enjoy 24/7 concierge services , security, a library, reception hall and lobby with a central courtyard, and of course, a spa. The architect is 85-year-old Robert Stern, one of America’s greatest living architects who designed George W. Bush’s Presidential Center in Dallas and countless prestigious projects – from museums to synagogues and high-rises in New York and Philadelphia.
Westminster City Council changed its rules and now prohibits the construction of apartments larger than approximately 200 square meters, just a few years after 1 Mayfair’s plans were already approved. Accordingly, the 3 penthouses are duplexes on the 6th and 7th floors of the building, ranging from 400 to 900 square meters, not including balconies.
Each apartment has a separate elevator for service staff and butlers, who can ascend discreetly and disappear into internal corridors leading to a bedroom and kitchen, from where they can enter the living quarters when needed. But only when needed. Butler service is a serious business in England, with most butlers belonging to a guild. The annual salary of a trained butler with experience, working 12-hour days, six days a week, can reach £70,000 (approximately $88,000, gross) per year.
Apartment prices in the project will start at £35 million for the smaller units. As for penthouse prices – the sky’s the limit. Whether a buyer will be found for the 900-square-meter penthouse at £200 million ($250 million, including taxes) is another question. What’s certain is that the buyer will enjoy views of Hyde Park to the west, Big Ben and St. Paul’s Cathedral to the east, and most importantly, living spaces measured by 6-star hotel standards.
Anyone who watched Caudwell’s home on Netflix can imagine how the new building will look inside. Caudwell chose 78-year-old interior designer Juan Pablo Molyneux, a Chilean-American known in elite circles for designing not only numerous private clubs in the US, Europe, and the Middle East but also billionaires’ homes, including the palace of Qatar’s ruler in Doha.
In one word, Caudwell’s preferred style can be described as LAVISH. This is evident in the attention to super-luxurious design details, from gold plating to crystals. Everything – from color combinations, furniture, lighting, to materials – will continuously echo luxurious splendor.
The chandelier that will hang in the central lobby on the entrance floor is designed based on the chandeliers in the Palace of Versailles. The massive lobby fresco – “Map of Paradise” – was painted inspired by Michelangelo’s painting in the Vatican, requiring the developer to obtain special permission from the Vatican and Italian government for its reproduction. The crystal gallery overlooking the inner garden is inspired from the Hall of Mirrors model in the Palace of Versailles. The public and private spaces in the building will feature everything money can buy.
According to a company representative, 65% of construction is already complete, with project completion expected in spring 2026. They report that over 450 “serious” potential buyers have already registered with the marketing department, including “several Israelis.” While declining to elaborate on the Israeli registrants, it seems that given Tel Aviv’s real estate prices, even prices like those at 1 Mayfair don’t sound unreasonable. Only one potential issue might arise: Caudwell, who is not just a developer but also a conscientious philanthropist, warns that not everyone will be allowed to purchase property from him. Putin-supporting oligarchs, for example, won’t get to see the building from the inside. In the building with the world’s most prestigious address, he promises, only prestigious people with the right moral values will reside.
