Tycoon buys seven Regent’s Park houses to create £200m ‘supermansion’ with …

Posted on by Listify Me
  • Marcus Cooper, 46, purchases houses all in a row facing park in London
  • Plans to knock down walls to combine them into single ‘supermansion’
  • Home will become London’s largest residence after Buckingham Palace
  • Seven-storey pad will have 35 bathrooms, 15 bedrooms and roof garden

By
Sam Greenhill


PUBLISHED:

17:22 GMT, 16 June 2013


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UPDATED:

06:45 GMT, 17 June 2013

Buying two houses and knocking them through has long been a simple way to acquire a bigger home.

But one tycoon is taking the concept a little further after purchasing seven houses in a row facing Regent’s Park in London.

Marcus Cooper plans to knock down a few walls in the Grade I listed Regency houses to combine them into a single stuccoed ‘super-mansion’.

200MILL

The resulting home will be more akin to a palace, and indeed will claim the title of London’s largest residence after Buckingham Palace.

With an estimated £200million asking price, it will be one of the most expensive properties in Britain.

It will have 35 bathrooms alone, making it most unlikely there will ever be arguments about vain teenagers hogging the bathroom.

The seven-storey pad will have 15 bedrooms including a sumptuous master suite complete with an enormous dressing room and spacious ‘his and hers’ bathrooms.

In a row: The seven Regency houses - including Numbers 1 and 2 Chester Gate (pictured) and Numbers 6 to 10 Cambridge Terrace - are Grade I listed and were designed by John Nash - the architect of Buckingham Palace

In a row: The seven Regency houses – including Numbers 1 and 2 Chester Gate (pictured) and Numbers 6 to 10 Cambridge Terrace – are Grade I listed and were designed by John Nash – the architect of Buckingham Palace

On the top floor of the house is the pièce de résistance – a lush private roof garden, completely invisible from street level.

It will feature a giant sliding glass roof to allow sunbathing in hot weather, and keep out the rain during the rest of the year.

The ‘hanging gardens of Camden’ will be 40ft long, bigger than most ground-level gardens in the capital.

Then there is 472-acre Regent’s Park itself, literally a stone’s throw away.

As if all this were not enough, the property is also going to be extended – underground.

With land in Central London like gold
dust, the subterranean extension will create a leisure complex with a
swimming pool, jacuzzi, pool bar and cinema.

Also involved: The resulting home - which includes Numbers 6 to 10 Cambridge Terrace (pictured) will be more akin to a palace, and indeed will claim the title of London's largest residence after Buckingham Palace

Also involved: The resulting home – which includes Numbers 6 to 10 Cambridge Terrace (pictured) will be more akin to a palace, and indeed will claim the title of London’s largest residence after Buckingham Palace

The property will have 50,000 sq ft of living space. And, in the manner of a grand stately home, it will boast a grand spiral staircase, a banqueting room, a billiards room, a library, children’s rooms and a smoking room.

The seven Regency houses – Numbers 6 to 10 Cambridge Terrace and Numbers 1 and 2 Chester Gate – are Grade I listed and were designed by John Nash – the architect of Buckingham Palace.

Developer: Marcus Cooper, 46, has spent the past 20 years buying some of the capital's finest homes

Developer: Marcus Cooper, 46, has spent the past 20 years buying some of the capital’s finest homes

In recent years, they have been used as cramped office space, and the local authority has granted planning permission to restore them to residential use.

Camden Council rejected objections from local conservationists who wanted the houses to be several individual homes rather than a single dwelling, but English Heritage has backed the project.

Property mogul Marcus Cooper paid £23.7million in 2007 to buy the seven houses from the Crown Estate.

Developer Mr Cooper, 46, has spent the past 20 years buying some of the capital’s finest homes. In April, he sold three terraces nearby for £120million to the Qatari royal family.

This latest project is the biggest so far, and will take nearly three years to complete.

Experts expect the vast home to be purchased by an oligarch from Russia or a Middle Eastern royal family.

If it is sold for £200million, that is 1,229 times more expensive than the UK average house price of £162,606.

At that asking price, the buyer will face a £14million bill for stamp duty.

Despite the shaky economic recovery, 2012 was a record year for sales in London worth more than £5million, according to research by estate agent Savills.

Another Nash property, 18 Carlton House Terrace, was recently put on the market for £250million, making it the UK’s most expensive home if it reaches its asking price.

The comments below have not been moderated.



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In the old days you would have a nice house in the city and a country pile. Having a giant mansion in the middle of Regents Park is going about it the wrong way. He will be in legal wrangles for the next forty years as all his equally rich neighbours give him grief.

Chris
,

London,
17/6/2013 17:23

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It would be more successful if you could make it part-hotel. Nobody wants 35 bathrooms.

itsjamessmart
,

Leeds, United Kingdom,
17/6/2013 17:21

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Let them eat cake,and we all know what happened then.

Mick
,

Preston,
17/6/2013 16:51

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“…….. – Actually what he is doing to the listed properties has nothing to do with money. As long as he doesn not change the exterior of the building, and follows certain guidlines inside (not that many), he is perfectly within his rights to do this. There are so many jealous people out there who have a complete inability to be happy for anyone more fortunate that themselves. It’s very sad. “- Nina, Essex, 17/6/2013 8:51—— Actually listed buildings require listed building consent for any work and grade I buildings have a lot more protection on their interiors. Nothing to do with jealousy. There is just a general dislike for property developers who have done so much to ruin London and other cities, for the sake of stuffing their mouths full of gold.

Max
,

London, United Kingdom,
17/6/2013 16:49

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Well I am so surprised that Camden Council would give planning permission to bash grade I listed buildings about like that, though English Heritage don’t surprise me by supporting this. They are more interested in their bonuses these days than protecting listed buildings.

Max
,

London, United Kingdom,
17/6/2013 16:29

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I have no problem with anyone spending their own money in any way they please, I’m just surprised he’s being allowed to do this with Grade 1 listed properties. I thought the listing was supposed to protect them because they are of historical interest?

Debbie
,

Cheltenham,
17/6/2013 15:28

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If it is grade 1 listed no changes can be made without permission which should be refused. If not you might as well cancel all grade 1 listings

hament
,

Quesnel BC, Canada,
17/6/2013 15:22

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I’d rather have a few hundred square miles, in the Highlands of Scotland, for that amount of money.

Null
,

Void, United Kingdom,
17/6/2013 14:41

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“Property Mogul” this means he’s made his money off the backs of the common working man charging exterminate rents , whilst continuing to play a real life game of Monopoley. So now thanks to the corrupt council The famous Regent Park area will be dominated by one person. Most of the people who own these Luxury London properties don’t actually come from or live in the U.K. The sheer greed of this makes me sick, I hope the whole place gets squatted.

paulsmith
,

sheffield,
17/6/2013 14:36

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15 bedrooms and 35 bathrooms…can one of you wonderful reporters (smirk) from the DM ask him why so many?

Melloney
,

Spain,
17/6/2013 14:32

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