This Mayfair Mansion Was Frequented By Oscar Wilde (& Inspired His Most Famous Play)

‘Morning-room in Algernon’s flat in Half Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.’ So the stage is set for Oscar Wilde’s most famous play, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Farcical and fantastical the comedy may be, the Half Moon Street setting is far from fictional – nor was it chosen entirely at random. Before Mayfair developed its luxurious reputation, it was known as a more bohemian area, home to theatre creatives, aristocratic artists and ‘confirmed bachelors’ (often a euphemism for queer men masking their identities).

A cradle of hedonism and partying, Mayfair belonged to the eccentric. And one such eccentric character known to frequent Half Moon Street was none other than writer Oscar Wilde, who is rumoured to have stayed in bachelors’ lodgings on the infamous street. More specifically at 14 Half Moon Street, where the former apartment block has now hit the market as a multi-million pound luxury home.

No longer a scandal-ridden lodgings, this impressive Grade II listed townhouse sprawls 5,019 sqft and has all the trappings of modern luxury living – plus plenty of history etched into its walls.

Inside Oscar Wilde’s Former Mayfair Home

The History

Built in the 1730s, this seven storey white-stucco townhouse was originally imagined as a single family home. It wasn’t until the early 1880s that the then-owners, the Gannon family, decided to subdivide the property into separate apartments to let. Advertised as ‘bachelor’s chambers’, they provided accommodation for single male tenants living in London who were seeking to advance their careers and fortunes.

These particular bachelor chambers were especially popular with certain young men-about-town due to the apartments’ proximity to the infamous Flemings at 9-10 Half Moon Street – then a scandalous local tavern with lodgings run by Robery Fleming, now transformed into Flemings Hotel which boasts an Oscar Wilde inspired VIP suite. Across the way, fellow hotel The Mayfair Townhouse riffs on Wilde’s flamboyant taste throughout its interiors.

Beauchamp Estates / Alex Winship

The street itself was named for the raucous Half Moon pub which stood on the corner of Piccadilly. Wilde’s reported bachelor chambers were far from the only ones around with other colourful local characters including actor and costumier Raoul ‘Reggie’ de Veulle, novelist Hugh Walpole, poet Siegfried Sasson and literary icon, journalist and ‘close friend’ of Wilde’s (read: lover) Robbie Ross who lived just down the road at 40 Half Moon Street.

Though Wilde’s permanent (and official) address was with his wife Constance at 16 Tite Street in Chelsea, reports suggest he spent most of his time at Half Moon Street – though it’s less likely that he rented and more probable he was seeing friends and rendezvousing with romantic entanglements. Wilde was a frequent visitor to the bachelor’s chambers and a regular fixture at Flemings Tavern and Café Royal on Regent’s Street (now the Hotel Café Royal). Wilde also had membership of the smart Mayfair gentleman’s club, the Albemarle Club, then at 13 Albemarle Street, and haunted the nearby Burlington Arcade where he would purchase the famous carnations he stuck in his buttonhole.

Beauchamp Estates / Alex Winship

With so many young rakes flitting in and out, it’s no surprise that 14 Half Moon Street inspired the setting of the self-absorbed yet charming Algernon Moncrieff’s hedonistic bachelor pad in The Importance of Being Earnest. Variously visited by Ernest Worthing, Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen Fairfax and his formidable aunt, Lady Bracknell, you can see the drawing room drama come to life between its walls.

Beauchamp Estates / Alex Winship

The Home Today

Following a brief stint as an office block after the Second World War, 14 Half Moon Street was converted back into a single family home in 2008. Now listed for sale for the first time in a decade, it has most recently served as the most luxurious student digs around – having been purchased by an Emirati multi-millionaire for his daughter while she studied at LSE.

Beauchamp Estates / Alex Winship

Now fully refurbished and modernised, the house promises luxury living over seven floors, conveniently linked by a secret passenger lift hidden behind wardrobe doors. On the ground floor find geometric patterned marble flooring, a Carrara Biano marble fireplace and elegant ceiling coving. Moving beyond the entrance hall, the home opens up into the family kitchen complete with central island and an adjoining breakfast/informal dining room.

Up on the first floor the spacious reception room and its large bay windows overlook Half Moon Street while smoked European oak parquet flooring, a period marble fireplace and cocktail bar complete the look. Elsewhere on the first floor find an interconnecting double reception room with both a drawing room and 10-seater dining room leading to an outside terrace.

The principal bedroom suite occupies the entire second floor, with a deep oriel bay window and walk-in dressing room plus a double walk-in shower with Armani marble. The principal guest suite is similarly set over the entire third floor. The uppermost floors feature two guest ensuite bedrooms plus a family room and a fourth reception room which opens onto a large roof terrace.

Though the home is much more refined than it would have been in Wilde’s day, there is plenty of room left for hedonism. Simply head downstairs to enjoy the cinema room, built in bar and steam room – we’re sure this would have been Wilde’s favourite spot.

On the market for £14m. Find out more at beauchampestates.com