Money is no object

Money is no object
At £40,000 a week, this is London’s most expensive rental property. John Elliott takes a tour
Hi Paul, this is Madonna calling,” announces a familiar drawl as Paul Davies, the high-end designer/devel-oper, takes me on a tour of a 10,000sq ft house he has just revamped in London’s Mayfair — he has turned the American pop goddess’s message into a rather natty ringtone.


That his phone has such a message at all indicates the type of clients he caters for and, sure enough, a celebrity Alister had been lined up to rent this place, No 10 Park Street, just a stroll from Hyde Park. Jennifer Aniston, the actor, was due to film in Britain, and Davies claims the house was refitted for her.

“There was a fire at Pinewood Studios, so her filming schedule got put back and she ended up not taking it,” says Davies, diplomatically avoiding any mention of other possible reasons for Aniston’s no-show — such as her latest break-up, from fellow actor Vince Vaughn, who was rumoured to be moving in with her. Now Davies, who owns the property, wants £40,000 a week for short lets, or £30,000 a week for leases of more than six months: Johnny Depp has allegedly taken a look, and a “wealthy businessman” has expressed interest.

It is, say high-end lettings agencies, by far the most expensive rental sought in prime central London. A legacy of Aniston’s interest is the front entrance’s extra wrought-iron grille, which Davies says the star asked for when she and Vaughn visited. Other security features include CCTV and another exit via the adjoining two-bed mews house at the rear, which contains the staff quarters; there is also a garage with room for several cars.

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The facade of 10 Park Street, one of a three-house terrace, is handsome late 19th-century gothic revival, but no more remarkable than many of its neighbours. Inside, though, Davies has decorated in a style that he calls “Spanish neo-baroque”, which, for the uninitiated, means some rooms are all off-white, and others are virtually all black. It is as if Philip II of Spain and Stanley Kubrick had collaborated on a pop-video shoot and were waiting for Justin Timberlake to arrive.

“A lot of designers go for a neutral look, but we wanted something that reflects the history of the house,” says its creator.

Celebrity guests popping by for a glass of Cristal might stop first in the ground-floor formal reception room. It has dark purple walls, sombre, repro portraits of ruff-wearing, moustachioed aristocrats, and purple glassware.

“We designed the furniture specially and had it made in Spain,” explains Davies, 42.

Across the hall is the main dining room, with its own servery; everything is off-white, from the 10-seater table and original Robert Adam fireplace to ceramics and classically inspired urns.

The hallway’s handmade fibreoptic chandelier is by lighting designer Bruce Munro; it falls the full height of the grand mahogany and ironwork central staircase (there is also a four-person lift).

So far, so stunning, but the lower ground floor has the real wow factor: a 38ft-long pool, lined with blue marble mosaic, and hot tub. At one end is a giant mirror backlit with blue neon, flanked by statuary; at the other, past a lounge area and up a flight of stone stairs, through sliding sheet-glass doors, is a state-of-the-art Boffi kitchen and dining area. It is all black marble surfaces, gleaming ebony units and Miele and Sub-Zero appliances, including a glass-fronted champagne cooler.

In the first-floor master bedroom, beside the off-white, reproduction 18th-century French bed, there is a life-sized bust of Julius Caesar, almost camouflaged among the off-white curtains, chairs, tables, lamps and carpets. Clearly, Davies reckons that tenants might relate to the Roman emperor as they pull on their socks in the morning.

The more casual television room is eggshell blue; there are studio portraits of Hollywood greats and more old master-style paintings, and a couple more Roman nobs either side of the Adam-esque fireplace.

On the second floor, there are two more bedrooms; one in pale yellow and another, which features a four-poster, in a sensual dark green. All in all, Davies has turned a relatively ordinary interior space — the house is barely 22ft wide — into an exceptionally stylish home, yet one that is simple enough not to alienate a tycoon of plain tastes.

But will he find someone willing to pay the astronomical amount that he is asking? The property jury is divided: the house has an unusual layout — although the building is six storeys high, the top two floors belong to an adjoining home — and it is not considered the best street in Mayfair.

One top estate agent who has seen the house believes potential tenants would expect more for their money: “A lot of people would probably want more bedrooms and a larger reception room, and perhaps forego the pool for that,” he says. Another, speaking strictly off the record, says he believes £25,000 a week is more realistic, if it achieves that.

Tim Hyatt, head of UK lettings at Knight Frank estate agency, agrees. “Anything let in central London for more than £25,000 a week would set a new precedent,” he says. “It is unheard of so far in today’s lettings market. However, there is an extraordinary amount of affluence in central London that has come in from any number of different global sources right now, and who’s to know who might pay what?

“It could be for any kind of tenant, from a film star to a Russian billionaire, but it’s highly unlikely that it will be your standard corporate tenant. I can’t see a senior banker or a captain of industry, in this market, paying that kind of price for a rental.”

Davies says he acquired Park Street, which was then “abandoned and rat-infested”, for £8m; Land Registry figures reveal a price of £4.58m, although he says he had to spend more on acquiring connected leases. The refit has cost him about £3m.

Given that Davies could generate about £2m a year in rent if he achieves the rates he wants for the Park Street house, there is little incentive for him to sell; he says he has rejected offers of about £14m. For there is a huge shortage of high-end houses in the capital and lots of very wealthy people trying to buy.

“If I sold the house, and I could — what would I buy?” Davies asks.