Five of the best: Opulent and eccentric homes

July 22, 2013

Section:

OPULENCE & SPLENDOUR

Unusual homes that will suit unconventional people

Some people dream of living Kelly Hoppen-like in taupe surroundings. Others crave something a little more eccentric.

For those of you who fall into the latter category, here are five options:

Celine Dion’s Montreal Laval mansion, Canada

Custom built in 2001 on a private island for the My Heart Will Go On singer and her husband-slash-manager René Angélil, this 24,000 square foot French Normandy style chateau is for sale through Sotheby’s International for some £18 million complete with most of its contents. A “dungeon like wine cellar straight out of Phantom of the Opera” is just one of the many eccentric features. She’s certainly been Taking Chances with the asking price: the house has been for sale since May 2012.

Broadbrook House, Studio Place, Belgravia, London, SW1

Close to The Berkeley Hotel and situated just off Kinerton Street, a short but extendable Grosvenor Estate lease of 3 years is available on an opulently decorated first floor chapel conversion for £1,500,000 through Faron Sutaria. With a ground rent of £42,000 per annum, this place is far from cheap but with 2,124 square foot of accommodation it is sizeable. If you like velvet and chintz, this could be just the place for you.

The former Las Vegas home of Liberace

Władziu Valentino Liberace bought a 14,939 square foot mansion in Las Vegas in 1974 and spent $1.6 million reproducing a Michelangelo painting of the Sistine Chapel on a bedroom ceiling. Though it remains and though the last owner paid some $3.7 million buying it in 2006, it has been in the possession of JPMorgan Chase since they seized it in 2010. Just $529,900 is sought for the property by Dan Humeston. Extraordinarily, though the pad includes 10 bathrooms, it has just 2 bedrooms.

11 Hyde Park Gardens, Bayswater, London, W2

“A home fit for Marie Antoinette” is The Telegraph’s description of a £6.5 million 3-bedroomed apartment overlooking Hyde Park. Decorated and owned by a French banker and hedge fund manager who admits to having “spent more per square foot on the decorations than [he] did on buying the property”. The agents, Crayson, who gush about ceilings copied from Madame de Pompadour’s chateau and antique mirrors concealing flatscreen televisions, comment: “Somehow, children do live here!”

19 Lansdown Crescent, Bath, BA1

Formerly part of the home of the writer and one time “richest commoner” in England, William Beckford (1760 – 1844), this ground and basement maisonette is one of Bath’s finest crescents. It incorporates the Grecian style library where the “bisexual eccentric art collector”, who inherited the equivalent of £110 million in cash at the age of 10 and whom was briefly trained in music by Mozart, no doubt housed much of his vast collection. The 2,528 square foot apartment is for sale through Savills for £850,000.