An Ambassadorial newly refurbished 3rd floor apartment at 18 Grosvenor Square providing 3,541 sqft (329 sqm) of lateral living space with four bedroom suites and a south facing reception room, formerly the London home of aviation tycoon Sir Frederick Handley Page (1885-1962), is one of the finest residences in the world-renowned square, for sale via Wetherell.

On the façade of the palatial brick and stone apartment building at 18 Grosvenor Square an English Heritage Blue Plaque states that the apartment was the home of legendary aircraft designer and manufacturer Sir Frederick Handley Page. Here he entertained luminaries including American tycoon Howard Hughes, HM The Queen Mother and Sir Arthur Harris, the wartime C-in-C of RAF Bomber Command.

18 Grosvenor Square was built in 1938-1939 in a neo-Georgian style to designs by Detmar Blow, Estates Manager to the Duke of Westminster, and Fenand Billerey, the French Beaux-Arts architect. The internal fit out was disrupted by WWII so it was not until after 1945 that the building was fully completed, allowing residents to occupy the apartments.

The 3rd floor apartment extends the entire depth of the building and has a grand entrance hall with double doors leading into the magnificent double volume reception room, totaling 43.6ft in length, with five tall south facing windows overlooking the square. The residence is complete with a large family kitchen and breakfast room, study, long gallery, guest powder room, master bedroom suite with walk-in dressing room and master bathroom; three further bedroom suites, each with ensuites; with one bedroom designed to serve as a media room/private cinema.

When Sir Frederick and his wife Lady Una moved into the apartment in 1946 he was already a legend in the global aviation industry. His company, Handley Page Limited, established in 1909, was the first British public company to build aircraft. The Handley Page Factory at Radlett Aerodrome built bombers essential for British success in WWI. In the interwar period Sir Frederick’s luxurious airliners were used by Imperial Airways on routes to Africa, the Middle East and India. One of his airliners, Hanno, was the first to fly the then rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

During WWII Sir Frederick’s factories produced the famous Halifax bomber, a major component of Bomber Command. In 1942 he was Knighted by King George VI for the Halifax and his contribution to the war effort.

Postwar Sir Frederick and Lady Una spent weekends at Limes House in Middlesex, their magnificent country house, purchased in 1922 and set in 4.2 acres of gardens; and from 1954 Sir Frederick served as Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex. When in London during weekdays, the 18 Grosvenor Square apartment served as the couple’s luxurious Mayfair pied-a-terre.

Post-War Handley Page Limited produced the V-Bomber, part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, and also the Herald airliner, a favourite of HM The Queen Mother for her journeys from London to Balmoral and Birkhall.