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For sale: Albert Hall box with a £1.2million view
Valentine Low, Evening Standard3 Jun 2008
It measures just a few feet across, has 10 chairs, no bed and no bathroom - but is on sale for £1.2 million.
One of the largest boxes in the Royal Albert Hall - giving the owner automatic access to the BBC Proms and forthcoming performances by artists such as Lou Reed and Pete Doherty - costs the same as a four-bedroom house in Putney.
With red seats and red carpet, the box has space at the back for either a bar or a dining table seating up to 10.
"It is a very good space for entertaining," said Alex Greaves of Harrods Estates, which is marketing the box. "There is space there for serving canapés and drinks, or even dinner."
The box is in the Grand Tier, across the hall from, and on the same level as, the Queen's Box with 20 seats.
Another two seats can be bought separately from the Royal Albert Hall. Another box, with eight seats, is on the Loggia - the next level down - and costs £750,000.
A third, directly above the Queen's Box, seats five and is on sale for £495,000. Each of the boxes for sale has 858 years left on its lease and gives the owner the right to see most performances.
If they do not wish to use their tickets, they can give them to friends or family or sell them back through the Albert Hall. Up to one third of performances are " exclusive", which means boxholders do not get allocated tickets.
However, even when one of the boxes - which are private property and can be bought or sold at will - has been purchased, the buyer will still find themselves facing an annual charge of about £960 per seat per year. This covers maintenance and administration costs.
Most boxes are passed from generation to generation of the same family. Mr Greaves said the smaller box had been in the same family for 50 years.
Shirley Humphrey, sales and marketing director of Harrods Estates, said: "It is very rare to see even one up for sale, but to have three is a great honour for us. We are thrilled to be able to offer buyers the opportunity to purchase the ultimate luxury item and are expecting to see significant interest.
"This is the first time Harrods Estates has had the privilege of offering this range of seating, size and position in the hall and I believe it is highly unlikely that this situation will arise again any time soon. Clients will love entertaining their friends and family in one of these." The boxes were originally sold on 999-year leases when the Royal Albert Hall opened in 1871, to help finance its construction costs.
About 1,200 of the venue's 5,500 seats are owned privately under the debenture system - similar to that at sports venues such as Wimbledon and Twickenham.
Seat owners become members of the Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Sciences which owns the Albert Hall. This gives them the right to nominate a member of Imperial College London's court, which regulates its academic affairs.
