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The Holme, a 205-year-old London mansion is currently on the market for
an eye-watering £250 million ($300 million), which makes it the world’s
most expensive mansion.
Known as the “White House of Regent’s Park”, because of its massive
scale and similar style facade as that of Washington DC’s iconic
presidential residence, The Holme features 40 bedrooms, eight garages, a
tennis court, a sauna, a library, and a “grand dining room”, as part of
its 29,000 sq ft of living space. Built in 1818 by Georgian property
developer James Burton, The Holme served as a residence for the Burton
family, before being used by Bedford College for several decades. It
became a private residence in the 1980s and has been on the market
several times since, fetching astronomical prices every time. Today, it
is being sold for £250 million ($300 million), the highest price set for
any mansion, ever.
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The iconic mansion was previously owned by members of the Saudi royal
family but was recently repossessed after a loan of approximately $180
million expired. It was the most expensive asset among those backed
against the debt, and its sale was seen as the quickest and easiest way
to repay the debt.
According to luxury magazine Robb Report, The Holme is the most
expensive mansion currently listed for sale anywhere in the world,
including the previous holder of the ‘most expensive home’ title held by
a three-story penthouse in New York City’s Central Park Tower which was
mad available last September for $250 million.
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The Holme is expected to draw the interest of both domestic and foreign
buyers, many of whom wouldn’t even consider living in it, preferring
instead to add it to their investment portfolios.
The two-storey mansion may be considered the world’s most expensive
mansion, but technically it is still behind Villa Aurora, a Rome villa
that hit the property market last year with a price of €471 million (at
the time $539 million). However, that price is somewhat justified by the
fact that it houses the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian
Baroque old master Caravaggio.
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