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Little White House US embassy London property
The wide frontage of the 'Little White House' that is located in a backstreet in London's Mayfair Wetherell

As the US Embassy in London prepares to move from Grosvenor Square to Nine Elms, it has put up for sale a grand home within the current compound dubbed the "Little White House" after the presidential home in Washington.

Those marketing the property call it the "most protected private home in Britain" because of the high-level security surrounding the embassy in Mayfair — including US marine patrols and anti-tank blocks.

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The white-fronted house at 4 Blackburne's Mews, which runs just behind the embassy, was built in 1732 and has 2,773 sqft of living space, four ensuite bedrooms, a formal dining room and a "grand entrance hall with sweeping staircase".

The price is £2.5 million, around four times the average house price for London.

When the embassy finally moves to Nine Elms in 2017, the security cordon will be removed and the old Embassy building will be transformed by its Qatari owners in a £1 billion redevelopment to a five-star luxury hotel and spa.

"The Little White House in Blackburne's Mews provides the adroit buyer with an outstanding and unique long-term investment and lifestyle opportunity," Peter Wetherell, chief executive of Wetherell, the estate agent listing the property.

"The transformed Embassy building will become London's next Claridges or Connaught Hotel with the purchaser having the benefit of living right on the doorstep. The resort's restaurants, bars, health spa and boutiques will be one of the 'must visit' destinations in Mayfair, and the urban renewal programme has the potential to give huge uplift to property values in the local area."

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