Wytham Abbey, a 15th-century grade I-listed manor that was once planned as a hub for technologists and philosophers to solve some of the world\u2019s toughest problems, has had its sale price slashed by 60% to \u00a35.95m as its charity owners struggle to find a buyer.<\/p>\n
The Effective Ventures Foundation (EVF), formerly the Centre for Effective Altruism, bought the 27-bedroom, 18-bathroom Oxfordshire estate in April 2022.<\/p>\n
Backed by the Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz\u2019s Open Philanthropy fund, EVF envisioned the property as a hub for global thinkers combining effective altruism and artificial intelligence to \u201cbenefit others as much as possible\u201d. The charity\u2019s other funders included Skype\u2019s billionaire investor, Jaan Tallinn and Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder who was jailed <\/a>after his company collapsed.<\/p>\n But EVF was forced to put the manor and extensive grounds up for sale for \u00a315m<\/a> last year after its backers withdrew support for the events venue.<\/p>\n The property portal Rightmove said it was one of its five most-viewed homes of 2024 but with no sale agreed the asking price was reduced to \u00a312m in June. It was cut again<\/a> in August with the UK\u2019s luxury property market struggling amid cooling interest from the world\u2019s super rich and Labour\u2019s tax changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n EVF said: \u201cAs part of its ongoing effort to maximise sale proceeds directed to high-impact charities, Effective Ventures has taken advice from leading surveyors and decided to lower the property\u2019s guide price to encourage offers from actively interested prospective buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n Savills, the agency marketing the property, declined to comment.<\/p>\n Over its six centuries, the abbey has welcomed guests including Queen Elizabeth I, Oliver Cromwell and Queen Victoria.<\/p>\n Set in 9 hectare (23 acres) of grounds and parkland and built around 1480 from locally quarried limestone, it retains Tudor arched doorways. The Earl of Abingdon lavished money on improvements in the 19th century, adding to its grandeur. It has eight reception rooms, a Georgian-oak staircase, stained glass panels and a marble fireplace.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n At the time of its decision to sell the property, an EV spokesperson said: \u201cEffective Ventures agreed with the abbey\u2019s major donors at the time of the original purchase that they could recommend that EV sells the property if they believed there were higher-impact uses of the asset.\u201d<\/p>\n