London's £40 million super-mansion: Britain's most expensive home is one of the most popular properties on the internet
As lockdown sends us all online to get our kicks, it seems some of us are dreaming of space and seclusion in the form of this £40 million private home.
The secluded Hollywood-style super-mansion near to Hampstead Heath is the third most popular property on Rightmove so far this year.
It is one of the most expensive detached houses on the open market in the UK with 10-bedrooms and seven-bathrooms.
The house is believed to have taken its owner, an Eastern European tycoon, more than 10 years to build, at a cost of £32 million.
A smaller house on the site was demolished and replaced by the glossy white modern home. A swimming pool and spa open on to the garden, while a glass lift rises through the centre of the house.
The property features a gym, a billiards room, tennis court and roof terrace with views over the gardens and nearby Hampstead Heath. There is also a separate staff lodge.
The three-storey home is in the same suburb as Athlone House — a former NHS nursing home being restored by Ukrainian-born businessman Mikhail Fridman — and Witanhurst, the second-biggest private residence in London after Buckingham Palace, owned by fertiliser magnate Andrey Guryev.
The new 18,300 sq ft property is set in two acres and is “not overlooked by a single window”, according to Lee Koffman, who is handling the sale for Sotheby’s International Realty UK.
“You walk in through the entrance gates and it’s 70 or 80 metres before you even get to the house, yet you can be in Hampstead Village in just minutes,” said Mr Koffman.
“It’s perfect for someone who needs security and privacy but doesn’t want to trade off by going outside London to find it. The plot it sits on is totally unique.”
The house is in a conservation area but is not listed, so there is scope for a new owner to build an entirely new property on the land.
Craig Draper of Knight Frank, who are joint agents on the sale, said: “The new owner has a great opportunity to put their own personality into the property, with scope to reconfigure the house to suit their lifestyle.”
It is the latest in a stream of mansions priced in the tens of millions of pounds that have come on the market in London over the past year.
In August last year, a former church behind Harrods went on sale for £55 million after being converted to luxury home.