The earliest mention of any individual house in the Square is in 1739, when, according to the Gentleman's Magazine, the centre house on the east side, which had been built by a Simmons, was raffled for and won by two people named Hunt and Braithwaite. The possessors valued it at £10,000, but two months later they sold it to the Duke of Norfolk for £7,000.
This house occupied ground held by Sir Richard Grosvenor for eighty-four years from 1737, at a ground rent of £42 per annum!
Besides this nobleman, a large number of important people have at some time lived in Grosvenor Square. More recently, the pages of the Directory will have shown that its reputation in this respect has been well maintained.