“The elegant, the prosperous, the polite Tyburnia, the most respectable district of the habitable globe,” marveled the 19th-century English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. He was lauding the genteel residential neighborhood just north of London’s Hyde Park that he called home.

A century or two before, this ancient district had gorier associations as the site of London’s main gallows, where many prisoners met a gruesome end. These days, this leafy triangle of garden squares, cobbled mews streets and white-stucco terraces forms part of the Bayswater district and includes chichi Connaught Village—one of London’s tiniest but most centrally located village-like enclaves—where you can find Persian patisseries, custom wedding gowns and contemporary art.

Bayswater may be less known to an international audience as neighboring Notting Hill, but its railway station, Paddington, is legendary enough to have inspired a hit West End stage show, thanks to its famous furry-mammal namesake. And more importantly, it’s a very handy hub among global jetsetters who want to be at Heathrow airport within half an hour.

Further bells will chime loudly from the other famous associations on the doorstep, including Selfridges, Park Lane and Hyde Park—which, along with neighboring Kensington Gardens, Green Park and St. James’s Park, forms an almost continuous 720-acre chain of trees and ponds, lawns and flora. Central London’s green lung.

In London’s luxury real estate sphere, Bayswater is also making a sizeable splash. The £3 billion (around $4.04 billion) revamp of its key artery, Queensway, centers around The Whiteley, a famous Victorian shopping emporium reborn as ultra-luxe private residences and the UK’s first Six Senses hotel. Nearby is Park Modern, a new development overlooking Hyde Park, where the recent sale of a £57 million (around $77.6 million) penthouse marked London’s biggest residential apartment deal since 2024.

“Bayswater has undergone significant regeneration over the past decade and is now emerging as one of prime central London’s most compelling luxury residential neighborhoods,” says Martin Bikhit, founder and CEO of UK Forbes Global Properties, a newly launched brokerage that will specialize in London’s £10 million-plus market.

This is an area that has harnessed the allure of luxury branding, profiting from its world-famous shops and world-class hotels, its historic landmarks and prestigious location to attract wealthy buyers from across the globe.

“In this super-prime market, buyers typically want one of two things—either a statement primary address or a high-value asset that enhances their portfolio and fits a particular lifestyle need.”

“For international buyers, it is rarely the postcode itself that drives interest,” Bikhit adds. “It is the brands, destinations and lifestyle associations connected to an area that create global recognition and demand. Bayswater now benefits from many of those signals. The arrival of Six Senses at The Whiteley, the continued evolution of Paddington, immediate access to Hyde Park and its positioning between Marylebone and Notting Hill have all helped reposition the area internationally.”

In this super-prime market, Bikhit says buyers typically want one of two things—either a statement primary address or a high-value asset that enhances their portfolio and fits a particular lifestyle need.

To respond to that desire, Bikhit is showcasing a Grade II-listed property just steps from Hyde Park with an asking price of offers over £15 million (around $20.2 million). It’s a residence that not only typifies the area’s historic elegance but comes with famous associations of its own.

The park-side entrance to Hyde Park Street is bookended by two of the grand white mansions that once dominated this area before wartime bombing made its mark on the landscape. A little farther along the street is another, No. 12, a handsome seven-story building that towers over the rest of the terrace—though even its lofty height can’t compete with the soaring canopy of the mature London plane tree that stands at its perimeter.

On the façade is a blue plaque, one of many dotted around Bayswater to celebrate illustrious past residents, including Sir Winston Churchill and chief Scout Robert Baden-Powell. This particular house’s claim to fame is as the former home of one W.H. Smith, the bookseller and statesman who lived here from 1825 to1891.

A blue plaque helps to pique interest, says Bikhit. “Buyers like a sense of heritage, and the plaque brings cachet. WHSmith is a name that’s widely known too, including to Americans,” who, alongside Europeans, are the most likely audience for this property, Bikhit believes.

This property has been through various incarnations, originally a single-family home that was later subdivided into apartments. Bikhit is marketing a five-bedroom property on the lower ground, ground and first floors, formed from combining three of the apartments, with a total interior area of 4,400 square feet. That’s significant, he points out, as the local Westminster City Council policy means you can no longer build a residential unit of more than 200 square meters (2,153 square feet). “Permission for this one was granted before the new law came in,” Bikhit explains.

Standout design features include a sweeping staircase—a new addition by the current owners, but steeped in period elegance—and high-ceilinged, south-facing reception rooms where natural light floods through tall French doors and sash windows. The seven bathrooms have a five-star hotel-style sophistication and the large master suite provides a walk-in closet, private terrace and views across to Hyde Park.

What really sets No. 12 apart for Bikhit, however, is the 3,165-square-foot garden—unusually large for the area thanks to the property’s end-of-terrace position. “It’s one of the biggest gardens in W2 and it’s very mature, private and beautifully maintained, in a classic English style,” he says. “It’s rare to have outdoor space of this size with a period house. With a large courtyard at the lower level too, there’s a lot of natural light in this property and a very peaceful feeling. It’s a wide street that feels grand and surprisingly quiet.”

To further recreate the sense of being somewhere surprisingly bucolic amid the bustle of central London, you could always hop over Bayswater Road and join the hardy members of England’s oldest swimming club, who take a dip all year round in Hyde Park’s famous Serpentine lake.

Central London’s market has faced its fair share of hurdles in recent years, including Brexit, rising buying taxes and changes to non-domiciled resident status, denting demand and hitting values. That also, however, presents opportunities for buyers with an eye on a long-term asset in a prime location.

No. 12 Hyde Park Street, thinks Bikhit, would make an ideal primary residence or pied-à-terre for an international buyer. He’s confident that as the market continues to settle, activity at the top end will strengthen. “And we expect,” he adds, “to be holding the keys to some of the U.K.’s most exceptional homes.”

No. 12 Hyde Park Street is listed with Martin Bikhit at UK Forbes Global Properties—a member of Forbes Global Properties, the invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.