Our story

1896

Knight Frank & Rutley is founded as a valuation, surveying and auctions business. Its first sale takes place at Conduit Street, London.

1897

Knight Frank & Rutley makes its first recorded business property sale: a cycle machinery and plant business in Battersea for £270 11s 6d.

1908

The Melbourne office opens – the first branch outside the UK.

1910

The UK team moves from Conduit Street to new premises at 20 Hanover Square.

^{Image: 20 Hanover Square}

1911

The Crystal Palace sells to Lord Plymouth for £210,000.

^{Image: Original advertising for The Crystal Palace}

1912

Howard Frank buys estate agent Walton & Lee to secure the prime front page of Country Life magazine.

1913

The Edinburgh office opens.

1914

Senior Partner Howard Frank is knighted.

1915

Cecil Chubb buys Stonehenge through Knight Frank & Rutley for £6,600 as a present for his wife. She gifts it to the nation three years later.

^{Image: Stonehenge}

1921

Knight Frank & Rutley sells its first town, Reigate, for £203,840.

1922

The firm sells Winston Churchill’s house before arranging the purchase of Chartwell for him.

^{Image: Chartwell in 1870. Image from National Trust}

1924

Via Knight Frank & Rutley, the Duke of Westminster sells Grosvenor House in Park Lane.

1925

Knight Frank & Rutley buys 40 acres north of Oxford Street for the Audley Trust.

1927

The firm advises on the site assembly of Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC, in London.

^{Image: Broadcasting House}

1935

Knight Frank & Rutley completes the sale of the contents of the Cunard Liner, Olympia.

1937

The majority of Lytham St Anne’s in Lancashire is sold, including its celebrated golf course.

1958

Offices on London’s Chiswell Street are acquired for BP – the UK’s largest ever property transaction.

1964

The Geneva office opens – the first in Europe outside the UK.

1965

Knight Frank & Rutley is established in Nigeria – the first location in Africa.

^{Image: Alan Shelley and Paul Mitchell in Lagos, Nigeria, 1963}

1972

With the opening of an office in Hong Kong, Knight Frank & Rutley expands its footprint to Asia.

1974

The historic Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire is sold for £1m.

1979

Knight Frank & Rutley establishes in North America, setting up a New York office through a joint venture with Douglas Elliman.

1980

The UK’s biggest single property deal takes place: BP’s purchase of Britannic House for £93m.

1981

Douglas Elliman Knight Frank sells Pan-American World Airways Intercontinental Hotels Corporation to Grand Metropolitan for $500m in New York.

1983

Knight Frank & Rutley joins with a leading Hong Kong surveyor to form Knight Frank Kan and Baillieu. In the same year, the Singapore office is established.

^{Image: Hong Kong skyline by NithidPhoto}

1984

The firm acquires additional premises at 5 Hanover Square to accommodate its growing staff, now comprising 53 partners and 5 associates.

1986

The Qantas Centre in Sydney is sold for $200m, becoming Australia’s largest single property sale.

The Residential Development division is set up at the London Docklands office.

1996

Rutley is dropped from the firm’s name.

2000

The Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, is sold on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

^{Image: Duke of York's Headquarters}

2003

Knight Frank becomes a Limited Liability Partnership.

2005

The firm advises on the development of London’s new Olympic Village ahead of the 2012 Games.

Rutley Capital Partners, the real estate private equity business, is established.

^{Image: East Village in Stratford, the London 2012 Olympic Village}

2006

The firm forms a partnership with New York-based Newmark real estate to establish Newmark Knight Frank.

Knight Frank joins with Chesterton Petty and begins expanding its presence in China.

2007

The firm’s increases equity ownership in its Indian business to 100%.

2008

The firm relocates its global headquarters to 55 Baker Street, London W1.

^{Image: 55 Baker Street, London}

2009

Newmark Knight Frank is appointed leasing agent on the Empire State Building.

2010

Knight Frank is appointed on London’s new skyscraper, The Shard – set to be the tallest landmark building in Europe.

^{Image: The Shard, London}

2011

Knight Frank successfully pitches to sell the 40-acre Battersea Power Station site, consisting of 8 million square feet of mixed-used property.

The firm also launches a multilingual website and introduces a new property app, which goes on to be listed in the Daily Telegraph’s Top 10 property apps.

2012

My Knight Frank, a library of past and present research publications, launches.

2015

Knight Frank wins the instruction to sell 231 super prime residential units within the iconic Royal Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.

^{Image: Royal Atlantis, Dubai}

2016

Enters a new license agreement in the Philippines to establish Santos Knight Frank.

2018

Knight Frank forms a strategic alliance with Bayleys in New Zealand.

^{Image: Auckland, New Zealand}

2020

The firm leads an investment into Fifth Wall, the world’s largest Proptech VC.

2021

The firm forms a global partnership with US-based Cresa, the world’s largest occupier-centric commercial real estate firm.

Knight Frank forms global partnership with US based Cresa, the world’s largest occupier-centric commercial real estate firm.

2023

The My Knight Frank portal is upgraded, allowing clients to retain more real-time information about their property, progress, and history.

2024

Knight Frank announces a residential partnership with McGrath in Australia.

The firm increases equity ownership to 100% in its businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, and increases its stake in its other businesses in the Asia Pacific region.

2025

Knight Frank announces a new partnership with Contract Workplaces in Argentina, expanding its operations into 11 more countries in South and Central America.

The firm becomes a Series A-1 investor in Fyxer.AI, an AI executive assistant.

Plans to move the London HQ to a state-of-the-art facility at One Liverpool St in 2028 are unveiled.

Image: CGI of One Liverpool St, London