2–8a Rutland Gate
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2–8a Rutland Gate is a large terraced house on Rutland Gate in the
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
district of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, overlooking Hyde Park. It was formerly four houses and built as 2 Rutland Gate and 4–8a Rutland Gate, but the houses were converted into a single property during the mid-1980s.


Description

2–8a Rutland Gate is a large white
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
ed house originally built as a terrace of four houses in the mid-19th century. The four houses were later converted into a single property. A competition to redesign the house was held in 1982 and won by the architectural firm YRM. The present 2–8a Rutland Gate was built between 1985 and 1987, replacing 2 Rutland Gate and 4–8a Rutland Gate, a group of 1930s houses. The
Survey of London The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an A ...
describes the design of the present 2–8a Rutland Gate as "One of YRM's least Modern designs ... the building comprises a rather bland white palazzo." In 2012, the house was described as having seven storeys and 45 bedrooms, with a total size of . The interior of 2–8a Rutland Gate has a swimming pool, underground parking, several lifts, and substantial interior decoration of
gold leaf upA gold nugget of 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 sq ft). The Japan.html" ;"title="Toi gold mine museum, Japan">Toi gold mine museum, Japan. Gold leaf is gold that has ...
. The interior of the house was described as having been decorated by Monzer Hammoud by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' and by the French designer Alberto Pinto by the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' in July 2015. The windows of the house are believed to be
bulletproof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protecti ...
. 2–8a Rutland Gate has been likened to two other palatial London houses, Bridgewater House in St James's, and Dudley House in Mayfair.


History

Since 1982, 2–8a Rutland Gate has been owned by Yunak Corporation, registered in the
Dutch Antilles Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
tax haven A tax haven is a term, often used pejoratively, to describe a place with very low tax rates for Domicile (law), non-domiciled investors, even if the official rates may be higher. In some older definitions, a tax haven also offers Bank secrecy, ...
of
Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...
. The house was the London residence of the former
Prime Minister of Lebanon The prime minister of Lebanon, officially the president of the Council of Ministers, is the head of government and the head of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon. The prime minister is appointed by the president of Lebanon, with the consen ...
and billionaire businessman
Rafic Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed fi ...
, until his assassination in 2005. Following Hariri's death, the house was given as a gift to the then– Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,
Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (c. 5 January 1931 – 22 October 2011) (, ''Sulṭān ibn ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Suʿūd''), called ''The generous Sultan'' (, ''Sulṭan al Khair'') in Saudi Arabia, was the Saudi defense minister from 1963 to 201 ...
(1928–2011), who had business links with Hariri. In 2012, 2–8a Rutland Gate was reported to be for sale at an asking price of £300 million, which would have made it the most expensive house in Britain if realized, surpassing the £140 million paid for Park Place in Berkshire by the Russian banker
Andrey Borodin Andrey Fridrikhovich Borodin (; born Moscow, 24 May 1967) is a Russian financial expert, economist and businessman who until 2011 was President of Bank of Moscow. He and his first deputy Dmitri Akulinin were dismissed from office by the court fo ...
. The house remained unsold and was later valued at £140 million in early 2015. In June 2015, contents from the property were put up for auction in a 1,252 lot sale lasting two days. Items for sale included
Murano glass Venetian glass () is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a Soda–lime glass, soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techn ...
chandeliers, gold plated waste paper bins, and 24 marble bathrooms. A loan of £55 million to fund the cost of stripping out the property was secured against the house in December 2014, issued by Omni Capital Partners, a financial services company owned by the property developers
Christian and Nick Candy Nicholas Anthony Christopher Candy (born 23 January 1973) is a British luxury property developer and politician, who has been the treasurer of Reform UK since December 2024. He was estimated to share a joint net worth of £1.5 billion in the ' ...
. After 2–8a Rutland Gate had not sold by July 2015, the Saudi owners of the property were planning to turn the house into luxury apartments. In April 2020, Chinese businessman
Cheung Chung-kiu Cheung Chung-kiu or Zhang Songqiao (; born 1964) is a Chinese billionaire businessman. He is the chairman of C C Land, Y.T. Realty and Yugang International. Early life Cheung was born in 1964 in Chongqing, China, where he lived until 1980. ...
bought the property for £210 million, which would make it easily the most expensive house ever sold in the UK. In October 2022 The Guardian quoted a Financial Times article which reported that
Hui Ka Yan Hui Ka Yan (, or Xu Jiayin in Mandarin Chinese; born 9 October 1958) is a Chinese former billionaire businessman. He is the chairman of the board and Communist Party secretary of the Evergrande Group, a Chinese real estate developer. The Guan ...
, founder and chair of
Evergrande The China Evergrande Group was a Chinese property developer, and it was the second largest in China by sales. It was founded in 1996 by Hui Ka Yan (Xu Jiayin). It sold apartments mostly to upper- and middle-income dwellers. Evergrande was in ...
and once China's richest man, was ultimately behind it, and that it has been put up for sale again.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2-8a Rutland Gate Houses completed in the 19th century Houses in the City of Westminster Knightsbridge