Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long ‘May Fair’ which was held in Shepherd Market from 1686 until 1764. The area was first developed between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries as a fashionable residential district. Mayfair is now host to London’s largest concentration of five star hotels and Michelin starred restaurants. Mayfair buildings include the embassy of The United States of America, The Royal Academy of Arts, Handel House Museum, Claridge’s and The Dorchester Hotel. Mayfair has several tube stations including Bond Street, Hyde Park and Green Park. Numerous prestigious galleries and auction houses including the internationally renowned Sotheby’s are based in Mayfair -“Embedded above Sotheby’s entrance is the oldest outdoor statue in London. The Ancient Egyptian black basalt effigy of the lion-goddess Sekhmet which dates to around 1320 BC and has been Sotheby’s muse since the 1880s when it was sold at auction for £40 but never collected by the buyer”
Alexander Graham Bell performed the first long distance telephone call from 33 Albemarle Street, Mayfair and the present Queen of England Elizabeth II was born in 21 Bruton Street, Mayfair. All four Beatles lived at 57 Green Street, Mayfair in 1963 whilst recording at nearby Abbey Road Studios.
MAYFAIR PROPERTY – The huge brick houses, mansions or small palaces really, provide wonderful serviced flats and apartments here. There are houses in the form of little mews properties in the Shepherds Market area but these are very few in number and instantly snatched up. Mayfair has the best of everything, and as such, commands the prices to match. To live here is to live high on the hog, in some of the finest flats and – occasionally – houses in Britain.