FEBRUARY 16, 2002

Bernie's new purchase is Britain's most expensive house

The Daily Mail in London is reporting that Bernie Ecclestone is spending around $80m on a house in London.

THE Daily Mail in London is reporting that Bernie Ecclestone is spending around $80m on a house in London. The 55,000 sq ft mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens, which used to house the Russian and Egyptian Embassies, was visited by Ecclestone in November not long after the lease was transferred to a company in Lichtenstein. The house had previously been owned by an Iranian scholar called Dr. David Khalili who spent six years restoring the building (and presumably removing all the listening devices implanted in the walls).

The mansion is so big that it has underground car parking for 20 cars (which would be nowhere near big enough for Ecclestone's automobile collection) and has a ballroom, an oak-panelled picture gallery, a Turkish bath, hairdressing salon and a swimming pool.

Bernie currently lives in a rather more modest $6m house in Chelsea Square.

The Daily Mail says that Ecclestone's new house (which may be simply a property investment) is still not the world's most expensive house as computer billionaires Bill Gates and Larry Ellison have spent rather more on their residences in Seattle and Silicon Valley respectively. Ellison's house is expected to cost him more than $150m by the time it is finished.