Hariri family sells luxury London home to one of Middle East’s richest families

A five-bedroom house in London which belonged to Lebanon’s billionaire Hariri family and is a stone’s throw from Harrods  has been sold to a businessman for £19.75 million ($24m).

The luxurious 6,504-square-foot property in Cadogan Gardens, Knightsbridge, was built in 1889. It had been owned by the Hariri family since 2014. Two members of the Hariri family — Rafik and his son Saad — are former prime ministers of Lebanon.

The house is set in landscaped gardens and is one of a handful of surviving full houses in the sought-after Knightsbridge area.

Due to its corner position, the house is flooded with natural light and the rooms have a bright and airy ambience, overlooking and providing direct access to the large landscaped communal gardens.

The house is one of seven properties in Cadogan Gardens that have remained full houses, with many of the other original mansion buildings turned into apartments or duplexes over the years.

The house was designed by renowned Victorian country house architect George Levey under the auspices of Lord Cadogan. The original owners were the aristocratic Anglo-Irish Plunkett family of Lord Dunsany fame.

Inspired by Penshurst Place, Levey designed the Cadogan Gardens house with generously large rooms, high ceilings, ornate ceiling mouldings, classical fireplaces and a sweeping main staircase, giving the property an air of grandeur and sophistication.

On buying the property, the Hariri family commissioned French designer Alberto Pinto to modernise the property and transform it into one of the finest houses in Cadogan Gardens. Mr Pinto’s signature, detailed style fuses a classic English country house look with palatial and international features.

The result is a unique London residence with magnificent interiors, with each room having a unique style, radiating uncompromising luxury.

Located behind an elegant Grade II listed Queen Anne Revival style facade, the fully modernised and beautifully designed grand London house has a main staircase and passenger lift to all levels.

The Hariri mansion provides an abundance of luxurious accommodation over lower ground, ground and three upper floors. The ground floor features a spacious entrance hall, dining room, sitting room, study/home office and guest powder room.

On the first floor is the grand main drawing room, library/reception room and butler’s pantry. The main bedroom suite occupies the entire second floor, with three further guest bedrooms on the top floor.

The ground floor opens on to two outside terraces and contains the family kitchen and breakfast room with utility room, a media/games room, fifth bedroom suite — which could also serve as a staff studio — and guest powder room.

“Beauchamp Estates has sold this extremely refined London home of the Hariri family to an ultra-high-net-worth Lebanese businessman who wanted a super-luxury London home for his children to live in,” said Gary Hersham, founding director of Beauchamp Estates, which sold the property.

“London is the international capital of the world and Knightsbridge, on the doorstep of Harrods, is the place to be in the capital.

“London’s super-rich buyer market has continued to be extremely buoyant during the course of the first six months of 2022. We have seen a flurry of deals for London properties priced over £15m.”

Before moving to Cadogan Square, the Hariri family owned 2-8a Rutland Gate, also in London’s Knightsbridge. The high-profile residence was the 62,000-square-foot mega-mansion, which the family owned between 1982 to 2005.

The family commissioned Mr Pinto to refurbish and interior design the Rutland Gate mansion, creating one of London’s most magnificent private homes.

After the death of Rafic Hariri in 2005, the family gave the Rutland Gate property to Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the late crown prince of Saudi Arabia.