17 Grosvenor Place

Built in 1868, for the Duke of Westminster through whom it was subleased via Robert John Waller to shipping magnate Arthur Wilson, the same man who hosted the future King Edward VII at Tranby Croft when the Royal Baccarat Scandal unfolded. His townhouse was designed by Thomas Cundy III in the French Renaissance style. Wilson died here in 1909 and after Waller died, the lease was purchased by Hon. A. Ernest Guinness, second son of the 1st Earl of Iveagh, who lived here until his death in 1949 when the lease reverted back to the Duke of Westminster. From 1949, it was leased to the Irish government and it remains the Irish Embassy in London.