Considered by many as the ‘epicentre’ of the world property market, Mayfair prices have continued to rise of late whilst the rest of the London property market struggles to keep up.  With its essence of true Britishness and a multitude of trendy hotspots such as Harry’s Bar and Annabel’s, it’s understandable why this pocket of W1 has always been so desirable.

Figures from the Halifax’s house price index suggest an overall 0.9% fall in price for August suggesting that buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain mortgages and that supply is starting to exceed demand. However, in contrast the Super Prime sector of the real estate market continues to thrive – Mayfair being one such example.  A shortage of high-end homes and availability of investment opportunities (for foreigners to take advantage of the weak pound) have resulted in Mayfair properties being immune to this fall.  ‘For overseas buyers, Mayfair remains very much the pied-a-terre location of choice.  A sentiment echoed by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan who proclaimed in a television interview earlier this year with Jonathan Ross that the Heart of London for him is centred around Grosvenor Square, Hyde Park and Selfridges.‘ Heta Shah, Partner, The Residence Collection

Pricing trends do not seem to affect Mayfair to such an extent as the rest of London - mainly because it is a such desirable address and dominated by the Super Wealthy who are under no pressure to sell.  ‘Mayfair property values are certainly back to 2007/08 levels, and in some cases exceeding values from the perceived peak.  The wider market normally trades at an average of between £1,200 and £1,500 per square foot with properties in prime addresses edging ever closer to £3,000 per square foot. This is supported by a Grosvenor Square flat Wetherell recently sold for £2,600 per square foot.’ Robert Windsor, Associate Director Sales & Developments Wetherell’s

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Ad Today’s total number of 1,995 streets where the average property value is more than £1 million is an increase of 36% on fifteen years back when there were 1,471 streets. Nick Leeming, commercial director of Zoopla.co.uk, recounted : as a country we are obsessive about property values. The past twelve months has seen home prices in the premiere areas of the country rebound at a far quicker rate than the average, making a contribution to a dilating of the North-South divide. Boris Kofman, a manager of Mayfair-based property consultancy Virtus property, which takes super prime London property on behalf of some of the planet’s richest people, claimed the top end of the market has been impervious to the downfall experienced further down the property chain. There are always folks that are intensely rich and who will need to buy super prime properties as prize assets, whatever market conditions may be, he claimed. The exchange rate having been so favourable to overseas purchasers during the last 2 years has put far more of a premium on super prime London properties. You also need to remember that properties at the very top end of the market are very rare, which again guarantees costs remain high.

It comes as a separate survey by spareroom.co.uk advised a 3rd of folks that hire do not believe they will ever be well placed to afford to get a property.

The newest penthouses in Mayfair sit on the eighth floor of Avenfield House above Park Lane, with views in one direction over Hyde Park; in the other, over the area’s distinctive redbrick houses towards the London Eye and the City.

The two apartments — both four-bedroom duplexes — cover about 10,000 sq ft, enormous for this part of London. With interiors designed by Nicky Haslam, Morpheus, the developer, believes that they could be the capital’s flashest penthouses.

“Each apartment is the size of a townhouse,” says the company’s Andrew Murray. “I would say they are the most impressive penthouses in London, if not the world.”

Soon to be rented at £25,000 a week, their launch is emblematic of the spectacular recovery of the super- prime market. On its knees in the dark days of early this year, the market for the finest homes is again awash with foreign and City money. Deals to rival boom-time records are again being done for the best properties.

The two penthouses — which have an exclusive Park Lane address but none of the noise — have been ten years in the making. The internal renovations (at a cost of £500 per sq ft) have been dramatic: the living/dining room is a huge lateral space that spans the width of the building.

Haslam’s interiors are an eccentric mix of the sleek and the quirky. The main suites have his-and-hers Italian marble bathrooms, while the banisters for the stairs leading to the first floor are made of cut crystal. “It all has a slightly Hollywood style,” he says. “The ceilings are so high that you can use enormous furniture. It is astonishing — you feel on top of the world.”

The owner thought about living in one of the penthouses, but decided instead to let both from January.

Luxury like this doesn’t come cheap, of course. But £25,000 a week? Peter Wetherell, of Wetherell, the agent managing the properties, rented a Mayfair property near by for £36,000 a week several years ago. The tenant stayed for almost a year. Meanwhile, WA Ellis marketed a property recently on Brick Street, with car lift and cinema, at £40,000 a week (the asking price has since been reduced to £30,000). It says that an international celebrity will be the probable tenant.

Wetherell says that whoever rents one of the Park Lane penthouses will be the type to take the presidential suite in a five-star hotel. “Someone who wants a toe in the water in London and who wants the international address of Park Lane. You’ve got the bling, and the view.”

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St. John’s Wood was once part of the Great Forest of Middlesex. The name comes from its mediaeval owners, the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem ( Knights Hospitallers ), an Augustinian order, which took control of the land from the Knights Templar in 1323. After the Reformation and the Dissolution of monastic orders, St John’s Wood became Crown land, and Henry VIII established Royal Hunting Grounds in what came to be known as Marylebone Park, to the north of which lay St John’s Wood. Aside from brief periods in the reign of Mary Tudor and Cromwell’s Protectorate ( when almost all of the trees were felled, none of which might have occurred if the Society had then existed ), the area called the St John’s Wood Estate stayed Crown land till 1688. Till the end of the eighteenth century, when plans for home development first appeared, the area remained in rural use.

Aside from a little piece of land, around Barrow Hill, which belonged to the Portland Estate, almost all of St John’s Wood had been purchased in 1732 by the Eyre family.

A second, smaller estate, lying next to the Edgware Road, had been purchased by John Lyon in 1574 : the estate was later left by him to his foundation, Harrow School, on trust to maintain the roads between London and Harrow in good repair . Building began in 1809 in Alpha Road, on the southern boundary of St John’s Wood, ( these villas have long since gone with the appearance of the train line in 1894 ) and quickly spread over the 2 estates. It had been a unique pattern of development : as the respected architectural historian, Sir John Summerson wrote : it was actually the first part of London, and indeed of another city, to desert the patio house for the semi-detached villa a revolution of striking significance and far reaching effect. The relatively cheap Italianate villas, Cottages Orns and Victorian Gothic pairs, encircled by large gardens and tree-lined avenues, attracted many that valued the charm of living in rustic calm so near to the town. Many artists, writers, thinkers and scientists made their houses in St John’s Wood across the nineteenth century.

They were joined by workers and merchants, who gave to St John’s Wood its hamlet atmosphere, which survives to this day. Though lots of the first homes and gardens vanished in the twentieth century, thru bomb damage and the building of new roads, railways, blocks of studios, hospitals, faculties, lots of the original character of the area remains. In the 1960s, most of St John’s Wood was appointed a Conservation Area and its homes listed by English Heritage. In 1814, Lord’s cricket ground moved to its present site and St. John’s Church was hallowed. In 1825, the Riding College , now part of the Royal Pony Artillery Barracks, was finished, and in 1836, St Marylebone Almshouses were built ( re-built on the same site in 1965 ), and the Roman Catholic Church of Our Woman .

In 1847 St. Mark’s Church, Hamilton Patio was hallowed. All these historic features are still distinguished in the life of St John’s Wood today, and along with more fresh developments ,eg Abbey Road Studios and the Central London Mosque, continue giving St John’s Wood its unique personality.

The North American College in London is a world, independent K-12 college in St John’s Wood, London, Britain for scholars aged between four and eighteen years. Established in 1951 by Princeton graduate Stephen Eckard, it’s the oldest American college in the town and the sole non-profit American college in Britain .

As of Sep 2006 the high-school has an enrollment of 1,344 scholars. ASL is to be found on 3.5 acres ( fourteen thousand m2 ) in central London, and maintains twenty-one acres ( 85,000 m2 ) of playing fields nearby. The high school follows an American structure and is organised into 3 departments : the lower, middle and schools. Though the bulk of scholars hold American citizenship, the college has a powerful world flavor with over 50 states represented. Less than a tenth of the scholars speak a principal language apart from English. Slightly over 1/2 these need further support in the topic. The high-school provides extra learning support to almost one-fifth of the scholars though not one of them have a statement of special instructional need.

The college’s stated mission is to offer an ‘American education of the highest quality’ to the families it serves.

The college functions as a very important cultural centre for American families in London and maintains close links with the North American Consulate . The History Of the college ASL was set up in 1951 by Stephen L. Eckard, an American journalist and previous teacher living in London. Mr. Eckard was working for the northern US Service of the BBC when a few co-workers inspired him to start a college that followed an American curriculum.

The high-school commenced with 13 scholars, and all classes occurred in his Knightsbridge flat. Inside half a year, the high-school had become so popular that 3 teachers were hired and it was moved to a more roomy property in Chelsea. An alumnus of ASL in its early years recollected Mr. Eckard wearing many hats : “Headmaster, advisor, teacher, director, even bus driver Stephen Eckard did it all.” The College kept on growing, moving first to a giant house in Grosvenor Square and then adding 2 homes in Gloucester Gate and 4 homes in York Patio . Scholars played sports at Regent’s Park and on the turf of Winfield House, the home of the US envoy. The 1st High College graduation was held in 1960, an event that brought Mr. Eckard much joy. “It would be tough to exaggerate the pride I feel in our College’s first graduating class,” he announced.

“To the extent that it marks a significant point of attainment for me in the development of the North American College in London, I am hoping this feeling is shared by the Senior Class.” In 1964, the newly created Board of Curators made the landmark call to generate funds for a $7 million building to shelter the whole College . They broke ground in 1968 with assistance from envoy David K.E. Bruce. The foundation stone was laid 2 years on by envoy Walter Annenberg. The Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher, MP, then secretary of state for education and science, spoke at the building’s dedication in 1971. In Sep 2k, the high school opened a new highschool wing, including a further 24,000 sq. feet ( 2,200 m2 ) of space, a new gymnasium, art studios, PC laboratories and a refurbished library. In June 2006, the highschool broke ground on the college Center for Education and the humanities, to make a 450-seat theater and new flexible teaching and performance space. The Center was finished in winter of 2007 and officially opened in March 2008.