Gucci’s Former HQ Attracts Offers From Tycoons To Live In It

Is waking up in a Gucci robe and slippers too basic for your taste? If you have millions of dollars to spare, you might want to match your outfit with a whole damn house.

The walls of this mansion on Grafton Street in London’s high-end Mayfair district might not be lined in red and green, but they bear witness to a storied past. This was the former headquarters of the luxury house, serving as the backdrop for inspiration for Creative Director Tom Ford and CEO Domenico De Sole as they hosted famous guests like Alexander McQueen between 1998 and 2010.

Today, the 14,000-square-foot property has been converted into a residential mansion and is being managed by real-estate agency Beauchamp Estates. You’ll need to shell out £55 million (US$65 million) to call it home, though those who wish to have a mere test drive can rent the house for £40,000 (US$48,000) per week.

The Grade I-listed mansion consists of eight bedrooms, a lobby, a reception hall, an indoor swimming pool, spa facilities, a cinema, a gym, a garden terrace, a mini bar, a double garage, and an elevator, to name a few.

Its ceilings are 20 feet high and adorned in gold leaf, while period elements fill its walls.

Its opulence and ties with history have piqued the interest of “ultra-high-net-worth businesspeople,” according to South China Morning Post. Some keen buyers are thinking of making this mansion their private London home, while others are hoping to use it as an office.

According to Architectural Digest, back when this House of Gucci was Gucci’s, its top floor was occupied by De Sole as his office. Meanwhile, the middle stories served as the brand’s public relations, IT, and legal offices.

Before uprooting to London, the fashion house was headquartered in Milan. But this was also where Maurizio Gucci was shot in 1995, and not wanting to live with these painful memories any longer, the brand eventually relocated to Grafton Street.

The mansion’s palatial history runs further back than Gucci. It was built in the 1700s and was the London property of Lord Brougham, once Great Britain’s Lord High Chancellor, who entertained guests like Queen Victoria.

[via South China Morning Post, Time Out London, Architectural Digest, images via Beauchamp Estates]