The Most Expensive UK Home Goes on Sale For US$ 122 Million
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
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According to Daily Mail, the most expensive country house in the UK has gone up for sale for US$ 122 million. Updown Court has 103 rooms, five swimming pools, two penthouse apartments and a helipad. It stands in 234,7 thousand square meters of grounds.
The enigmatic owner behind Updown is bricklayer's son-turned-property developer supremo Leslie Allen-Vercoe, 67. His company Rhymer Investments purchased it in 2002 out of receivership for US$ 32.8 million - and has since spent at least US$ 49 billion on renovation work. Now, an Irish bank has requested a drive to sell the mansion with a new price tag which reflects the vast sums ploughed into it.
The neo-classical California-style mansion was built in 2002 on the site of an earlier property which was owned during the 1970s by Prince Sami Gayed of Egypt. The original Updown Court was built in 1924 and had been left as a shell after it had been damaged by fire in the Great Storm of 1987 - when a tree apparently fell and ruptured the gas main. It was subsequently acquired by two investors who themselves were bankrupted and Mr Vercoe then stepped in.
The house, which has 24 bedrooms and 23 bathrooms, has been built with some of the world's rarest materials - mainly Italian marble. Visitors approach the mansion, which is 30 miles from Central London, along a heated marble driveway.
The mansion has a 50-seat cinema, a two-lane bowling alley, a gymnasium, a squash court, a flood-lit tennis court, a lake, a wine cellar for 3,000 bottles and a 'panic room'. Neighbors include Sir Elton John and Queen guitarist Brian May.
The enigmatic owner behind Updown is bricklayer's son-turned-property developer supremo Leslie Allen-Vercoe, 67. His company Rhymer Investments purchased it in 2002 out of receivership for US$ 32.8 million - and has since spent at least US$ 49 billion on renovation work. Now, an Irish bank has requested a drive to sell the mansion with a new price tag which reflects the vast sums ploughed into it.
The neo-classical California-style mansion was built in 2002 on the site of an earlier property which was owned during the 1970s by Prince Sami Gayed of Egypt. The original Updown Court was built in 1924 and had been left as a shell after it had been damaged by fire in the Great Storm of 1987 - when a tree apparently fell and ruptured the gas main. It was subsequently acquired by two investors who themselves were bankrupted and Mr Vercoe then stepped in.
The house, which has 24 bedrooms and 23 bathrooms, has been built with some of the world's rarest materials - mainly Italian marble. Visitors approach the mansion, which is 30 miles from Central London, along a heated marble driveway.
The mansion has a 50-seat cinema, a two-lane bowling alley, a gymnasium, a squash court, a flood-lit tennis court, a lake, a wine cellar for 3,000 bottles and a 'panic room'. Neighbors include Sir Elton John and Queen guitarist Brian May.
