A London Classic
Albany, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London, W1J United Kingdom £6,950,000.
By Megan McKinney
The nearly seven million pounds noted beneath the Albany image is a figure that was recently sufficient to purchase a two-bedroom apartment within Albany, a well-known block of flats in London. Here’s what the web tells us: Albany is an English apartment complex in Piccadilly, London. The original mansion was built in the 1770s and converted into apartments (known in this situation as “sets”) in 1802. The structure is seven bays (windows) wide, with a pair of service wings flanking a front courtyard. At the time of its conversion from mansion to apartments, Albany became known for containing 69 bachelor “sets.”
Fortnum & Mason
Think of it this way, Albany is across Piccadilly from Fortum & Mason, one of your favorite shopping destinations, and it lies to the east of the Burlington Arcade and the Royal Academy of Arts,
Burlington Arcade
Royal Academy of Arts
According to the web Albany bachelor tenants have included the poet Lord Byron, Edward “Ted” Heath before becoming Prime Minister and the actor Terence Stamp. It was a favorite among authors, such as J B Priestley, Graham Greene and Aldous Huxley. These were among writers who characterized subjects about whom they wrote as Albany bachelors.
thefamouspeople.com
Lord Byron
Going back to the turn of the 19th century there was the real-life ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ Romantic poet George Gordon Byron living for a time at Albany.
Terence Stamp
Above is former Albany bachelorTerence Stamp in his 1962 starring role in Billy Budd, in the decade during which he was squiring models Jean Shrimpton and Celia Hammond, and French actress Brigitte Bardot around London and Paris.
vrouge.co
Brigitte Bardot in the day
Edward Heath , United Kingdom Prime Minister 1970-1974
Two future UK Prime Ministers, Edward Ewart Gladstone and Edward Heath were Albany bachelors in their earlier years.
thefamouspeople.com
Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowden, husband of Princess Margaret, younger sister of the late Queen Elizabeth II, with whom he made history as the first royal couple to divorce in more than 400 years.
Fleur Cowles’ Flair magazine
Fleur Cowles was best known for marrying Look magazine Publisher Gardner Cowles and for creating the magazine Flair, above; however, toward the latter part of the more than a century of her existence she lived at Albany. Unmarried by then, yes. But not what we think of as a typical bachelor. We are told that residents no longer have to be bachelors, although children under the age of 14 are not permitted to live at Albany.
Author Image: Robert F. Carl
