{{Short description|English businessman (1928–2015)}} {{For|the British musician|Gary Benson (musician)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Harry John Hyams | birth_name = | birth_date = | occupation = Businessman | known_for = }}
'''Harry John Hyams''' (2 January 1928 – 19 December 2015) was a British businessman and a millionaire who initially made his money as a speculative property developer. He was best known as the developer of the Centre Point office building in London.[[File:Centre Point London.jpg|thumb|Centre Point, London]]
==Early life== Hyams was born in a Jewish family in Hendon, Middlesex.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thejc.com/news/centre-point-developer-property-giant-harry-hyams-has-died-aged-87-v3id6hif | title=Centre Point developer, property giant Harry Hyams, has died aged 87 }}</ref> His father was an importer. After private schooling he joined an advertising agency, then joined an estate agency and switched to property development.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/20/harry-hyams|title=Harry Hyams obituary|last=Brewerton|first=David|date=20 December 2015|work=The Guardian|access-date=23 April 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Career== Hyams made much of his fortune developing office space in London at a time in the 1960s and 1970s when rents there were rising significantly. He preferred to find single, blue-chip tenants for his properties, having them fully repair and insure the buildings they occupied, as is now common with commercial property in the UK. This approach enabled Hyams to manage a valuable and sizeable property business with a staff of just six. It was also used by him as justification for keeping his 33-storey Centre Point development empty for years after its completion: he claimed he could find no tenant willing to lease all {{convert|202000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} of space.<ref>{{cite news|title=Harry's Sore Point|website=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906178-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226144820/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906178-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 February 2012|access-date=6 August 2008|date=24 July 1972}}</ref>
==Private life== In 1954 he married his wife Kay in Chelsea.<ref>{{cite web|last=Tanz |first=Meryl |url=http://www.nwnannouncements.co.uk/23626334-memorial-hyams-kathleen-therese-kay|title=HYAMS Kathleen Therese (KAY): Memorial|website=Nwnannouncements.co.uk|accessdate=20 December 2015}}</ref> She died 1 February 2011, aged 91.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/announcements/deaths/in_memoriam/10196373.Kathleen_Hyams|title=Kathleen Hyams obituary|website=Gazetteandherald.co.uk|date=1 February 2011|accessdate=20 December 2015}}</ref> On 19 December 2015, Hyams died at the age of 87.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12060129/Property-developer-Harry-Hyams-has-died-aged-87.html Notice of death of Harry Hyams], telegraph.co.uk; accessed 20 December 2015.</ref>
Between the mid-1960s and 2010, Hyams owned the classic {{convert|64|m|abbr=on}} motor yacht ''Shemara'', although he is thought to have made little use of her.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.boatinternational.com/luxury-yacht-life/owners-experiences/on-board-with-sir-charles-dunstone-owner-of-classic-yacht-shemara--27171 |title=On board with Sir Charles Dunstone, owner of classic yacht Shemara |date=27 July 2015 | first1=Stewart |last1=Campbell |first2=Sacha |last2=Bonsor |work=Boat International |accessdate=25 November 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126183052/https://www.boatinternational.com/luxury-yacht-life/owners-experiences/on-board-with-sir-charles-dunstone-owner-of-classic-yacht-shemara--27171 |archivedate=26 November 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1965 Hyams bought Ramsbury Manor, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, and surrounding land for £650,000 – said at the time to be the highest price paid for a private house in England.<ref name=":0" /> In 2008, a raid at Ramsbury Manor by the Johnson Gang was described as the biggest ever private burglary in England.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7544650.stm|title=Five jailed for biggest burglary|date=6 August 2008|accessdate=6 August 2008}}</ref> In his will, Hyams gave the house and his collections of fine art<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/dec/14/turner-stubbs-true-radicals-british-art-harry-hyams|title=Forget the modernists – Turner and Stubbs are Britain's true radicals|last=Jones|first=Jonathan|date=14 December 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=23 April 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and cars to the nation via his Capricorn Foundation, in a bequest reported to be worth £450m.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/13/centrepoint-developer-harry-hyams-leaves-huge-art-collection/|title=Centrepoint developer Harry Hyams leaves huge art collection to the nation in £487m will|last1=Sawer|first1=Patrick|date=13 December 2016|work=The Telegraph|access-date=23 April 2017|last2=Limbrick|first2=Sarah|language=en-GB}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyams, Harry}} Category:1928 births Category:2015 deaths Category:English businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:People from Hendon Category:20th-century English businesspeople