£13.5m Mayfair mansion once owned by “Florence Nightingale of Bulgaria” for sale

As part of Bdaily’s latest feature week, The Property Market, we look to the former London home of “war heroine” Viscountess Strangford, a Grade II listed 5,183 sq ft Georgian building at 3 Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, arranged as three apartments with a guide price of £13.5m.

The property provides the opportunity, subject to planning, to be refurbished and extended into a single residence up to 7,000 sq ft size, and has been brought to market by joint sole selling agents Wetherell and Savills.

The property has a rear ground floor garden, on the first floor a spacious terrace to the rear facade and a balcony to the front, and two courtyards on the lower ground floor.

Located on the corner of Grosvenor Square, with views onto the former U.S. Embassy, soon to become the new 5-star Rosewood Chancery Hotel, 3 Upper Brook Street was originally built in 1730 by Mayfair contractor John Neale with alterations in 1854 by Victorian builders R. Watts & Sons.

During the Victorian era the “elegant” four storey brick and ground floor stucco building was the Mayfair home of “wealthy heiress and war heroine” Viscountess Strangford (1826 – 1887), the “Bulgarian Florence Nightingale” who in 1874, following the death of her husband, volunteered to train and serve as a nurse in London’s University College Hospital.

Viscountess Strangford shot to fame in the British media in 1876 during the Bulgarian – Ottoman war. On learning that Bulgarians were being massacred by Ottoman Turks Viscountess Strangford raised funds, and with a team of 16 peers went to Bulgaria and opened a field hospital and later funded the opening of six hospitals across Bulgaria.

Claire Reynolds, co-head of Prime Central London, Savills commented: “3 Upper Brook Street has the enviable position of being on the edge of Mayfair’s most prestigious garden square Grosvenor Square, offering partial views over the square’s gardens and views across to the iconic former U.S. Embassy, which is being developed to become the new 5-star Rosewood Chancery Hotel set to open in 2024.”

Peter Wetherell, founder and chairman of Wetherell, added: “3 Upper Brook Street, the former London home of Viscountess Strangford, the “Bulgarian Florence Nightingale”, provides the opportunity, subject to planning, to be refurbished and extended into a single residence.”