Once upon a time, kings and queens lived in palaces, and the nobility and the rich tried to imitate them in luxury. Many years have passed since then, land has risen in price, palaces have gone out of fashion (and living in them is uncomfortable by modern standards), but the desire to stand out remains.
What kind of buildings do the rich and famous build for themselves, and where do they prefer to live? Let's take a look at top 10 most expensive houses in the world - both inhabited and for sale.
10. Fairfield Pond, USA - Cost: $ 249,000,000
The list of the most expensive houses in the world at a price of $ 249 million opens with a giant palace with a size of almost half a hectare. It is located on Long Island, New York. The manor is modestly ranked 19th among the largest houses in the United States in size, but its location makes it one of the most expensive - there is little space in New York and it is expensive.
Owned by Fair Field Ira Rennert. No, this is not a girl Irochka, but quite a respectable gentleman born in 1934. Being 65 years old, he decided to buy land for himself and build a mansion. Although the neighbors protested fiercely against the construction, the industrial magnate was still able to insist on his own (albeit on a smaller scale than originally planned). As a result, Long Island adorns a giant home with 29 bedrooms, 39 baths, its own small power plant, three swimming pools, a greenhouse, a 164-seat home theater and one synagogue. However, it is not cheap to own it - Rennert pays more than 40 thousand dollars in taxes every month.
9. Molokai Ranch, USA - $ 260,000,000
If a rich man suffers from misanthropy and does not want to see people (of course, except for the attendants), then he retires to places like a ranch on the island of Molokai, Haiti. It is simply created for millionaires who prefer huge deserted spaces to the bustle of the city. It occupies more than a third of the island's surface, and its area is 22.5 hectares. These hectares include a coastline of almost 32 km, snow-white, sun-drenched beaches overlooking colorful reefs, rainforests, rocky cliffs ... And pastures - for entertainment, the estate has two golf courses, one hotel and an entire working ranch half the size of hectare.
The ranch was thinking of buying the notorious Mark Zuckerberg himself, but in the end he decided to settle on another Hawaiian island - Kauau.
8. Penthouse at the top of the Odeon skyscraper, Monaco - $ 330 million
In 2014, the penthouse was put up for sale, and it immediately attracted attention - both with a mind-blowing price, and stunning views and original architectural design. The "modest" apartment is at the top of the Odeon skyscraper and occupies the top five floors; its area is 3.3 thousand m2, there are five bedrooms and five bathrooms.
The creators decided not to sacrifice the view, so the walls of the apartment on each floor are one solid window. And being in the center of the room, you can literally observe the surroundings.But the most impressive feature of the house is the water slide, where guests can plunge right from the dance floor into the huge outdoor pool, which offers stunning views of the Mediterranean Sea.
7. Chartwell Estate, USA - $ 350,000,000
To this day, the Chartwell estate confidently holds the palm among the most expensive houses in the United States. It is in fact a real estate, designed by the architect Sumner Spaulding, following the best examples of French architecture in the 18th century. A limestone-clad white and gray house of classical proportions rises in a well-kept park with gazebos, paths, fountains, tennis courts, a giant swimming pool and parking for 40 cars.
The house filmed the popular 60s TV show The Beverly Hillbillies. Later, it was bought by the head of the television company Univision, to whom, in fact, we owe the excellent preservation of the estate - he spent several million to restore and modernize Chartwell.
6. Cedar Villa, France - $ 418 million
Real estate on the Cote d'Azur has long been a dream come true for the wealthy from all over the world. But it was not always so. The cedar villa located on the coast of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat started out as a simple working olive oil farm in the early 19th century. You can still see three hundred year old olive trees on the territory of the villa. Now, instead of an oil press, the courtyard is adorned with a bronze statue of the goddess Athena, and winding paths under the canopy of palm trees and cedars lead to the imposing citadel.
The interior is full of candelabra, 19th century portraits (I wonder if there are farm workers there?) And everything that the common man associates with the castle of the Beast from the Disney cartoon. In addition to the Empire-style armchairs, the palace also has a library that boasts a botanical codex from 1640. By the way, furniture and household items are not included in the sale price; they can be redeemed separately if desired.
5. Palace of Bubbles, France - $ 418 million
And from the classics we are moving on to cartoons - yes, the inspiration for creating the most expensive houses in the world was drawn from various sources. Most of all, the Palace of Bubbles resembles the quasi-primitive abode of the Flintstones from the children's animation of the same name. Imagine a cheerful cluster of spherical structures with the same round windows, doors, and other architectural details. Don't they look a lot like bubbles? A pleasant soft terracotta color of buildings and elegant white edging reconciles a little with the riot of form.
The size of the house is about 1200 m2, and it has everything that even the most demanding rich man needs, including a swimming pool and an outdoor amphitheater with 500 seats. It was here that the fashion show of the house of Dior was held and the fortieth anniversary of the birth of James Bond was celebrated.
4. Middle Gap Road, 24, Hong Kong - $ 446,000,000
Hong Kong is a densely populated area and land is expensive. In terms of price per square meter, this city-state is in second place, behind only Monaco. Unsurprisingly, a large house perched atop a picturesque mountain ranked fourth on the list of most expensive real estate.
Although, in comparison with the samples presented in the rating, it looks, frankly, nondescript - it has only two floors, four bedrooms and four bathrooms. In the backyard there is a swimming pool, which is hidden from indiscreet views by dense growth of trees.
3. Villa Leopolda, France - $ 750 million
This huge estate is located near Villefranche-sur-Mer, the city of the French Riviera. Its size is just over seven hectares, on which there is a palace faced with rare varieties of marble with nineteen bedrooms, fireplaces, swimming pools, a cinema and a bowling alley. Palace is not an accidental word; once the estate was owned by the Belgian king Leopold II, under whose wise rule the population of the Congo was reduced by half, but the production of rubber increased two hundred times. Now the most expensive villa in the world belongs to Lily Safra, a Brazilian millionaire who inherited it from her late husband.
It is interesting that the Russian oligarch Mikhail Porokhov dreamed of taking possession of the villa, who even began negotiations with Lily, but something went wrong. Prokhorov himself says that he was affected by the 2008 crisis. Evil tongues assert that Prokhorov was mortally offended by the French state. There he was arrested by the police for transporting girls with reduced social responsibility to Courchevel. The millionaire insisted that they were just beautiful girls who, of their own free will, decided to keep him company. Whatever it was, but after the advance payment had already been made, Prokhorov refused the deal. And Safra promised to spend this advance on various charitable purposes.
2. Antilia, India - $ 1,000,000,000
In second place among the most expensive residential buildings in the world is a whole tower, towering over mere mortals in southern Mumbai. Its owner is the richest man in India named Mukesh Ambani. The tower contains 27 floors, and the architects did not save on the height of the ceilings - the same height of the building with standard ceilings would be sixty-story. The building's services and the comfort of the billionaire and his family require 600 workers. The tower-palace has three helipads, a giant parking lot for more than 160 cars and its own car service. Mukesh does not forget about culture - the building has a theater, ballroom, spa and swimming pools.
Not all Indians welcomed the creation of this gigantic monument to wealth. In a country with the largest slums in Asia, where 42% of children under the age of five are underweight, building such a tower is not the smartest thing to do. Some have already hinted that this is how revolutions happen.
1. Buckingham Palace, England - $ 1,550,000,000
And in first place in the ranking is Buckingham Palace, the most expensive house in the world, worth $ 1.550 billion. The photo clearly shows both the ancient and beautiful building itself, and the crowds of tourists scurrying back and forth every day.
True, if you look at it from the front, the palace full-face really embodies the best traditions of classicism. Its facade pleases the eye with its noble proportions. But behind, where the owners of the royal blood ordered to attach all kinds of necessary and useful structures in the economy, the view is far from so good. No wonder the British newspaper The Guardian called it one of the ugliest buildings in the world; apparently, the journalists were not too lazy to go around the house.
Since 1761, Buckingham Palace has been in the undivided use of the British royal family. And at present it is the official residence of the reigning Queen Elizabeth II.
The Kremlin is estimated at $ 50 billion)))