For the first time in a decade, the Mayfair townhouse where Oscar Wilde once lived is for sale, for approximately $18.2 million. Located at 14 Half Moon Street, the Grade II-listed townhouse boasts 5,019 square feet of living space. Originally built in the 1730s, the six-story dwelling features a front exterior composed of white stucco. Inside, there are four reception rooms, an entrance hall, two private terraces, a steam room, five bedrooms, five baths, and a cinema room.

“In the luxurious rooms of this magnificent historic yet fully modernized Mayfair townhouse, Wilde’s play comes to life,” says Jeremy Gee, Managing Director of Beauchamp Estates. “And you can imagine Algernon Moncrieff, Jack, Gwendolen, and Lady Bracknell being quiet at home. With its links to Oscar Wilde and The Importance of Being Earnest, this is one of the most famous townhouses in Mayfair, and we anticipate interest in this property from discerning buyers from around the world.” 

Although the townhouse was originally built as a single-family home, it was subdivided into apartments in the early 1880s by its then-owners, the Gannon family. The building soon became known as the Gannon Apartments, a place where single male tenants could live in what was aptly deemed bachelor chambers. 

Named after the nearby Half Moon public house, Half Moon Street once boasted half a dozen bachelor chamber buildings. Oscar Wilde and his fellow bohemian friends lived and socialized here. Other notable figures who resided here included novelist Hugh Walpole, poet Siegfried Sassoon, actor and costumier Raoul Reginald ‘Reggie’ de Veulle, and journalist Robbie Ross, who was a close friend of Wilde’s.

In the aforementioned play, the character Algernon Moncrieff’s bachelor pad was inspired by and takes place on Half Moon Street. The first act of the play mentions Moncrieff’s “luxuriously and artistically furnished” morning room within his flat.

The current owner of the historic property purchased the home for his daughter while she attended college.