Will John F. Kennedy's childhood residence become London's most expensive home?

Pricetag? £300m

Forget One Hyde Park, there’s a new Knightsbridge mega-mansion that is set to be London’s most expensive home.

Ex-US president John F. Kennedy’s childhood London home on 13-14 Princes Gate in Knightsbridge is set to become a property worth £300m.

Here’s how – the property is rumoured to have been bought by a Saudi billionaire for £70m. The house has planning permission to be converted in a luxury home spanning 41,000 sq ft. Plans include installing a massive basement with a swimming pool, jacuzzi, wine cellar, staff quarters, gym and underground car park.

If converted into a single home, the property would will boast a kitchen, a reception room, a formal dining room, study and lobby on the ground floor.

The first floor will include seven bedrooms, a second kitchen, another sitting room and a playroom.

Becky Fatemi, managing director of West End estate agent Rokstone, told the Standard: “The mansion is Grade II-listed, and could be configured as either one mega-mansion, or as two residences.

“This is prime Knightsbridge, so if the property was refurbished and converted into a single super-prime mansion it could be worth anything from £200 million up to £290 million which, at the upper valuation, would make it London’s most expensive private home.”

History of the home:

1840s – the home was built by architect Harvey Lonsdale Elmes for investment bankers Junius Spencer Morgan and his son, John Pierpont (JP) Morgan. The Morgans later went on to offer the house to the US ambassadors

Late 1930s – John F. Kennedy lived here with his family as his father was US ambassador in London

1955 – the house became HQ of the Independent Television Authority

1962 – it served as the HQ of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)

1980 – the house was evacuated after attack on the next-door Iranian embassy

2010 – the house was sold to British Virgin Islands-registered developers Viridis Properties for £36m

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