Two of India’s billionaires feature prominently on this illustrious list
(Left) Inside Buckingham Palace | ©the Royal Collection | Photos: Derry Moore, Peter Smith; (right) Inside Villa Leopolda
1. Most Expensive House: Buckingham Palace | London, UK
Value: $1.55 billionThe Queen of England is the queen of real estate. Buckingham Palace is technically a Crown property and comprises 775 rooms, 188 staff rooms, including 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, and 19 staterooms making this not just the world’s most expensive residence but also the most ‘roomy’.
©the Royal Collection | Photos: Derry Moore, Peter Smith
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2. Most Expensive House: Antilia | Mumbai, India
Value: $1-2 billionOwned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, the 400,000-square-foot Antilia on Mumbai’s Cumballa Hills is situated in one of the world’s most expensive addresses—Altamount Road. Designed by Chicago-based architects Perkins and Will, with the Australian-based construction company Leighton Holdings taking charge of its construction, the building comes with 27 floors, replete with extra-high ceilings. Every floor is equivalent to an average two-storey building’s floor. In fact, Antilia can survive an earthquake of magnitude 8 on the Richter scale. India’s most expensive house also has six dedicated floors for cars, including Ambani’s INR 5 crore Mercedes Maybach.
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3. Most Expensive House: Villa Leopolda | Cote D’Azure, France
Value: $750 millionOwned by Lily Safra, a Brazilian philanthropist and widow of Lebanese banker William Safra, the 50-acre estate includes a massive greenhouse, a swimming pool and pool house, an outdoor kitchen, helipad, and a guest house. The house was even used as a set in the Alfred Hitchcock classic To Catch a Thief. Take a tour of this expensive home.
Step inside the 10 most expensive homes in the world
4. Most Expensive House: Villa Les Cèdres | French Riviera
Value: $400 millionThe Villa Les Cèdres on the French Riviera—priced at a whopping $410 million—is fit for a king, probably because it was built for the King of Belgium back in 1830. The 18,000-square-foot home comes with 14 bedrooms, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a wood-panelled library holding 3,000 books on flora and naturalism (including a 1640 edition of a botanical codex), a man-made pond with Amazonian lily pads, a bronze statue of Athena, a chandelier-lit ballroom, a stable big enough for 30 horses, grand sitting rooms, 19th century portraits in ornate frames, and stunning wood work throughout. Take a tour of this home.
Ambroise Tezenas for Bloomberg Businessweek
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5. Most Expensive House: Four Fairfield Pond | Sagaponack, New York
Value: $248.5 millionOwned by Ira Renner, owner the Renco Group, a holding company with investments in auto manufacturing and smelting, this 63-acre home comes with 29 bedrooms, and its very own power plant! The mansion also has 39 bathrooms, a basketball court, bowling alley, squash courts, tennis courts, three swimming pools, and a massive 91-foot dining room.
6. Most Expensive House: Ellison Estate | Woodside, California
Value: $200 millionThis 23-acre property belongs to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The compound has 10 buildings, a man-man lake, koi pond, tea house, and bath house.
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7. Most Expensive House: Palazzo di Amore | Beverly Hills, California
Value: $195 millionJeff Greene, a real estate entrepreneur and American politician, owns this 53,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa. Not only does this massive estate comes with 12 bedrooms, 23 bathrooms, tennis courts, swimming pools, a theater, waterfalls, a theater, reflecting pools and a garage that can accommodate 27 cars, it is also a party pad—with a revolving dance floor, and ballroom. This is certainly one for the world’s most expensive homes list!
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8. Most Expensive House: Seven The Pinnacle | Big Sky, Montana
Value: $155 millionPart of the massive Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf community for the mega-rich, the house is owned by Edra and timber baron Tim Blixseth. The house comes with heated floors, multiple pools, a gym, a wine cellar, and its own ski lift.
9. Most Expensive House: Xanadu 2.0 | Medina, Washington
Value: $125.5 millionYou would expect one of the world’s richest men to make it to the list of people who own the most expensive homes in the world. Not surprisingly, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his, Melinda’s home, Xanadu 2.0 in Medina, Washington, makes it to #10 on our list of world’s most expensive houses. The 66,000-square-foot home took Gates 7 years and $63 million to build. Xanadu 2.0 is an ‘earth-sheltered’ house, which means it is built into its surroundings to regulate temperature more efficiently. The 60-foot pool is located in a separate 3,900-square-foot building. This apart, the house has a 2,100-square-foot library with a dome roof and two secret bookcases, including one that reveals a hidden bar. What’s more? The artwork on the walls can be changed with just a button. How’s that for high-tech!
10. Most Expensive House: 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens | London
Value: $128 millionIt’s a known fact that Indian business magnate Lakshmi Mittal, the big boss of Arcelor Mittal—the world’s largest steel manufacturer, likes to live large. It is no wonder then that Mittal’s home is located on Billionaires Row on London’s Kensington Gardens, a tree-lined avenue half a mile long in the heart of the city’s embassy land. The property sits alongside the home of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The home comes with 12 bedrooms, Turkish baths, an indoor pool, and parking for 20 cars. Previous owners of this most expensive house in the world include the de Rothschild family (early 1900s); The Free Poles (1939–45); David Khalili, art dealer(1995–2001); and Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1 chief (2001–2004).
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