50 Berkeley Square

Number 50 Berkeley Square is a Georgian terraced townhouse in London's Mayfair, dating from the late 18th century. Among its notable residents was the statesman George Canning, later briefly Prime Minister, who lived there in the early 19th century and is commemorated by a blue plaque. For much of the 20th century the building was occupied by the celebrated antiquarian booksellers Maggs Bros, and it has remained a private commercial address rather than a visitor attraction.

During the Victorian era the house acquired a formidable reputation, promoted in periodicals of the 1870s and 1880s as 'the most haunted house in London'. Local tradition tells of a sealed upper room, of a servant said to have been driven out of her wits and of visitors supposedly frightened to death by an indescribable presence. These lurid tales circulated widely in print but were never substantiated, and they belong firmly to the sensational ghost literature of the period.

Approached critically, 50 Berkeley Square is a well-preserved example of a Georgian Mayfair house whose fame rests largely on Victorian storytelling. There is no public ghost access, and the building's documented architectural and social history is a good deal more reliable than its spectral legend.

50 Berkeley Square is a private, listed building in Mayfair and is not open to the public; it functions as a commercial address and has long been associated with the antiquarian book trade. There are no tours, no ghost experiences and no interior access for visitors.

Anyone interested can only view the exterior from the public pavement of Berkeley Square. Visitors should respect the privacy of the occupants and neighbouring properties, and avoid loitering or causing disturbance in what remains a working part of central London.