June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair, the most prestigious of the U.K.’s traditional antiques events, is to close, having celebrated its 75th anniversary this year, the British Antique Dealers’ Association said today in an e-mailed statement.

The latest edition of the week-long event, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, part of the JW Marriott Group, in London’s Park Lane, closed on June 17. More than 90 dealers exhibited works ranging from medieval sculpture to contemporary photographs.

The fair organizers cited declining profit, increased costs and demands on the space for the closure.

“It is with regret that I am writing to let you know that the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair will no longer be continued,” Richard Marchant, chairman of the BADA, said to members in an e-mail. “It has been decided in consultation with the British Antique Dealers’ Association and the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair Executive Committee that the fair is no longer financially viable.”

The event is held in association with the BADA trade organization, which is responsible for the vetting. Many of the fair’s exhibitors are BADA members.

The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair started as a means of boosting trade during the Great Depression. It initially ran for three weeks in September 1934.

“Echoing the past,” the fair said in an official release on June 19, “the 2009 event took place in the worst recession known in recent times, but sales throughout the fair underlined the resilience of the art trade in this particular economic downturn.”

Wealthy Collectors

Traditional antique furniture -- the mainstay of Grosvenor House -- has declined in popularity among wealthy collectors in recent years. The 2009 event was also hampered by the departure of high-profile exhibitors Johnny van Haeften, Bernheimer- Colnaghi and Moretti Fine Art Ltd. for the first edition of London’s “Master Paintings Week.”

The fair organizers, in association with the Grosvenor House Hotel, issued the following statement in an e-mail: “The Great Room is much sought after as a location and it makes financial sense for the hotel to increase the availability of the Great Room as a venue in June. The structural restrictions of the Great Room necessitated closing it down for a week before the show and a week after the show, thus putting the Great Room off-market for a total of three weeks for a one week show.

‘‘The profit was declining due to lack of sponsorship and increased costs of mounting the Fair including insurance. Further increases in stand rental costs in future years would have been required to maintain the current level of profit.’’

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: June 30, 2009 12:06 EDT