| In 1872 and at the age of 23,
John Daniel Wood founded his estate agency business in
Mount Street, Mayfair, next to what is now the Connaught
Hotel. Initially specialising in country property the
company was one of the first advertisers in Country Life
in the early 1900’s, an arrangement that continues
to this day. John D Wood developed his practice with considerable
success after the First World War selling some of the
finest houses and country estates in the land, often advertised
over the entire back page of The Times. This era included
the sale of Dorchester House, Park Lane for £400,000
to the MacAlpine family who rebuilt it as the Dorchester
hotel.
In 1930, John D Wood and his then partners moved to
a headquarters building in Berkeley Square where commercial
and development work became an important part of the
company’s business in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
An important step in the central London residential
market was taken with the opening of the Chelsea Green
office in 1966. More offices were opened in both London
and the country over the next 20 years.
In 1987, the residential and agricultural arm of the
company was floated on the London Stock Exchange and
in 1997 John D Wood & Co. was acquired by Countrywide
plc as their flagship ‘blue-chip’ estate
agency. Today, we have eleven lettings offices across
London and into Surrey.
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